Strategies for effective Web services adoption for dynamic e-businesses

Web services hold the promise for the so-called dynamic e-business movement. Currently, many organizations are either in the process of adopting Web services technology or seriously evaluating this option. One of the major concerns of senior management in this endeavor is the cost of adopting Web services. In this paper, a model is proposed to evaluate an organization's position in a technology adoption space by evaluating its current level of information technology (IT) sophistication. The model identifies critical factors necessary for the successful adoption of Web services technology along three dimensions – intranet, extranet, and Internet. A simulation experiment is conducted to find the most cost-effective strategy for allocating resources to pursue Web services adoption. Alternative strategies are evaluated under three scenarios with different combinations of significance levels (weights) and diffusion levels of the critical factors. Our results suggest that different strategies should be employed, while organizations consider their existing organizational IT status and focus area. This study provides useful guidelines for management to utilize available resources effectively in the process of adopting Web services technology.