Management of open-ended user feedback in the continuous development of information systems and e-services

Information systems are increasingly web-based and part of web-portals and ERP-systems that users see as a single service. Business processes and information systems are intertwined and constantly co-evolve. Systems and e-services affect many stakeholders and vast numbers of users, including consumers. Their needs, expectations, and desires are versatile, even conflicting, and change over time. Therefore, ongoing user involvement in systems development is important for providing sufficient service quality. Yet, it is very challenging for the service provider to directly reach or control users and other stakeholders. The utilization of open-ended user feedback provides a solution for ongoing user involvement. Open-ended feedback includes complaints, but also opinions and new ideas and tackles both business and organizational issues in addition to the system under consideration. However, the unstructured nature of open-ended feedback makes it difficult for such feedback to be analyzed and utilized. Often, no formal structure exists for forwarding feedback into the planning, development, and decision making processes. The objective of this qualitative research is to understand the management and utilization of open-ended user feedback in continuous information system and e-service development. Interpretive case study approach and action research are applied in five cases that represent various industries, types of information systems and e-services, and development situations. Methods and practices for the management and utilization of open-ended user feedback are developed. First, e-collaboration processes are developed for gathering open-ended feedback from users and other stakeholders at operational and strategic levels. Second, a model for feedback management is developed for gathering, analyzing, and disseminating open-ended feedback throughout the organization and all levels of planning. Finally, an e-service development model is constructed for integrating feedback management, information systems development, and new service development, thus enabling feedback utilization in those processes. The developed processes and models cover the whole feedback lifecycle from idea conception to utilization. The e-service development model integrates idea generation, information system, and new service development processes. The results enable continuous user involvement through open-ended feedback throughout the system lifecycle and at all levels of planning. They are useful for both academia and practitioners in their undertakings to implement, improve, and integrate practices for feedback management and continuous information system and e-service development.