The Embeddedness of Information Technology in the Workflow of Business Processes : How Can IT Support and Improve the Way Work is Done?

Abstract: Wise investments in Information Technology have become increasingly important in staying competitive in today's environment. Massive amounts of people and IT-systems are involved in the process of input becoming output. As these employees and IT-systems must be harmonized, it becomes relevant to study how employees’ routines and habits are related to the usage and embeddedness of these systems. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how embedded IT can lead to improved business processes. This is done through exploring how embedded IT is used in workflows as well as to examine what support and hindrance IT can offer. Therefore, extensive theoretical research was conducted within the fields of habits and routines, business processes and embedded IT, developing a framework for analysis. Then, a case study was conducted where a specific process within insurance claims was thoroughly analyzed through interviews and work shadowing. This facilitated a within-case analysis. The results of the study showed the interdependency between the pillars of this study. Workflow habits and routines influences IT usage, whereas IT aims to support through automatization and informatization. However, to enable this and achieve a significant improvement, the processes it aims to support needs to be fully known.