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<p>The changed role of IT continuously influences organisational development, the individual and his role in the organization, different kinds of structures, management processes and strategies. One of the big concerns for IT firms is the need for IT consultants with enough experience to effectively and rapidly understand the business procedures of the firm in or-der to become a resource. In the classic IT-consultant role in the early days of IT, quite dif-ferent features were expected from them in their work procedures. The structure of how and which tasks they were expected to handle has undergone an indisputable transforma-tion. Today’s IT consultants are expected to know how to think in business strategic man-ners as well as the IT strategic manners. The need to formulate this role explicitly has thus emerged. So far it has been a case of implicit non-formulated way of handling this role. We present the implications of these regards, namely the Emerging Strategic Consultant (ESC).</p><p>The purpose of the thesis is to gain knowledge about obstacles and difficulties in the proc-ess of introducing the IT-consultants to their expected role as a Strategic consultant. We also intend to give recommendations for improvements based on the study when we find apparent correlations.</p><p>In order to fulfil this purpose and to present a reliable and valid report a qualitative analysis method was used. We wanted to get a deeper understanding of the chosen subject matter, therefore, we conducted interviews and questionnaires in the studied company, Systeam.</p><p>After having analyzed and compared the empirical findings with the theoretical framework we can point out that there are some problems concerning the new strategic role of the consultants and the potential difficulties relating to these. On the whole we can state that management at Systeam have made a really effective job when hiring the right consultants to fit into their company strategy, however with a great deal of intricacy. The empirical study revealed that finding these consultants is not an easy task and takes some effort from many people. However, along with the positive aspects we have found some problems re-garding the replacing and introduction of the consultants into their strategic role. Among the main problems can be named lack of adequate documentation in projects, different personal expectations and non-existence of any documented explicit strategy about how a consultant should work in order to achieve strategic alignment of Business and IT. Draw-ing from this we have gathered some recommendations for the company to consider, which will be presented in the study.</p>

The changed role of IT continuously influences organisational development, the individual and his role in the organization, different kinds of structures, management processes and strategies. One of the big concerns for IT firms is the need for IT consultants with enough experience to effectively and rapidly understand the business procedures of the firm in or-der to become a resource. In the classic IT-consultant role in the early days of IT, quite dif-ferent features were expected from them in their work procedures. The structure of how and which tasks they were expected to handle has undergone an indisputable transforma-tion. Today’s IT consultants are expected to know how to think in business strategic man-ners as well as the IT strategic manners. The need to formulate this role explicitly has thus emerged. So far it has been a case of implicit non-formulated way of handling this role. We present the implications of these regards, namely the Emerging Strategic Consultant (ESC). The purpose of the thesis is to gain knowledge about obstacles and difficulties in the proc-ess of introducing the IT-consultants to their expected role as a Strategic consultant. We also intend to give recommendations for improvements based on the study when we find apparent correlations. In order to fulfil this purpose and to present a reliable and valid report a qualitative analysis method was used. We wanted to get a deeper understanding of the chosen subject matter, therefore, we conducted interviews and questionnaires in the studied company, Systeam. After having analyzed and compared the empirical findings with the theoretical framework we can point out that there are some problems concerning the new strategic role of the consultants and the potential difficulties relating to these. On the whole we can state that management at Systeam have made a really effective job when hiring the right consultants to fit into their company strategy, however with a great deal of intricacy. The empirical study revealed that finding these consultants is not an easy task and takes some effort from many people. However, along with the positive aspects we have found some problems re-garding the replacing and introduction of the consultants into their strategic role. Among the main problems can be named lack of adequate documentation in projects, different personal expectations and non-existence of any documented explicit strategy about how a consultant should work in order to achieve strategic alignment of Business and IT. Draw-ing from this we have gathered some recommendations for the company to consider, which will be presented in the study.

The shift toward mobility have today created higher demands on companies, consultants, the right use of working methods, workplace strategies, the information sharing as well as the interaction and collaboration with different customers. If consultants are able to work effective outside the office, from everywhere and at any time regardless of location with the help of mobile technologies, companies can reduce unnecessary costs, gain market share and competitive advantages. This study examines how mobile technologies enable social interaction of IT consultants‟ mobile work. The purpose of this Master thesis is to identify IT consultants‟ mobile work and the existing implications in mobility today. The thesis will also bring up the set of problems with mobility to the surface and create a deeper understanding of IT consultants‟ mobile work and more knowledge about mobile technologies and how they can enable social interaction. The thesis‟ empirical foundation is derived from 18 interviews with representatives from; NaviPro, Sogeti and Logica. The interviews will provide the reader with a better understanding in; how mobile technologies can enable social interaction and which implications consultants face during their mobile work. The theoretical basis is composed from secondary data to receive an understanding and background to the problem area. The empirical data is then analyzed by means of presented theories which are also assumed in the preparation of the interviews. We have come to the conclusion that today‟s technology has failed to satisfy the consultants‟ social needs and that there are significant implications that can result in lack of face-to-face interaction, social and professional isolation and higher demands of constantly be reachable. However, with the access of laptops, smartphones and mobile broadband consultants can minimize following implications and perform more than 50% of their work and still be a productive and effective consultant. / Program: Masterutbildning i Informatik

Den digitala utvecklingen accelereras alltmer och det blir allt viktigare för organisationer att digitalisera sina verksamheter genom olika IT-system. IT-implementeringar har dock sedan länge visat sig vara en komplex process och många organisationer tar hjälp av IT-konsulter för att lyckas med implementering av IT. IT-implementeringar påverkas dessutom till stor del av IT-kulturen i organisationen. Därför är det relevant att undersöka sambandet mellan IT-kultur och IT-implementering, för att således möjliggöra utformandet av strategier som underlättar en IT-implementering. SYFTE: Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur IT-kultur samspelar med implementering av IT och vilka strategier som kan användas för att underlätta implementeringen. Detta görs genom att studera konsulters arbete med att identifiera medarbetarnas inställningar till IT. GENOMFÖRANDE: Studien är en kvalitativ tvärsnittsstudie. Det empiriska materialet utgörs av sju intervjuer med IT-konsulter från fem olika företag. Studien genomförs med ett interpretativt grundantagande.  SLUTSATS: Studien visar att IT-kultur samspelar med implementering av IT, där en positiv IT-kultur främjar en lyckad implementering. Konsulter bör därmed använda strategier för att sprida positiv IT-kultur i organisationen, samt för att omvandla negativa och neutrala IT-kulturer till mer positiva. Olika strategier är lämpliga för olika sorters IT-kulturer och det är därmed av vikt att konsulten lär känna organisationen och kartlägger de olika IT-kulturer som existerar inom organisationen, för att således kunna bemöta dem på bästa sätt. / The digital transformation is accelerating, and it is of utmost importance that organizations and consultants hired by them are successful in implementing IT tools. Simultaneously, an IT implementation is complex and largely affected by the IT culture in the organization. Therefore, it is of importance to study the connection between IT culture and IT implementation, and to form strategies that can be used to facilitate an IT implementation regarding the IT culture. AIM: The aim of the study is to analyze how IT culture is connected to IT implementation and strategies that can be used to facilitate IT implementation. This is accomplished by a study of consultants and how they identify co-workers’ attitudes to IT.  COMPLETION: This study is a cross-sectional qualitative study. The empirical data consists of seven interviews with IT consultants from five different companies. The study is conducted with an interpretive philosophical perspective.  CONCLUSION: This study shows that IT cultures play an important role in the process of implementation of IT, where a positive IT subculture benefits a successful implementation. Therefore, through active work during the implementation process, IT consultants can deal with negative attitudes and strengthen positive approaches.  IT consultants should use strategies to create a positive IT culture within the organization, but also to transform negative and neutral IT cultures into more positive IT cultures. Different strategies are suitable for different kinds of IT cultures and it is therefore essential that IT consultants get to know the organization and clarify the variety of IT subcultures that exist within the organization, to be able to address them in the most suitable way.