​Enterprises can benefit significantly from the inherent wealth of internal and external data available in today’s digital era. Intelligent use of the insights derived from the analysis of these data can deliver significant competitive advantages. Those insights can revolutionize the interaction with existing and potential customers, and allow them to design innovative business models. There is no doubt that enterprises recognize the increasing importance of processing and analyzing large amounts of data and extending their analytics footprint within their organization. Are the companies prepared to address these new data demands? Are they successful in realizing the benefits of effective data analytics? How do companies prioritize their organization’s smart data transformation? To find out, we carried out a global study among Enterprises in different geographical regions and across different industries and business functions in order to get a better understanding of the current state of smart data transformation. The study report can be downloaded here.

​Shadow IT is a widespread phenomenon and includes systems, services, and processes that are not part of the “official” corporate IT. Existing research recognizes negative aspects of the phenomenon such as security, compliance, and efficiency issues but also potential advantages such as faster technical innovation and flexibility. Estimations indicate a large extent of dissemination of the Shadow IT in organizations and trends such as Consumerization and Cloud Computing are reinforcing this. Despite its relevance in businesses, the topic is still an emerging research area and only slowly gaining traction. Our minitrack aims to discuss different facets and characteristics of the Shadow IT phenomenon and the resulting transformational challenges and opportunities it generates for the use of IS in organizations. More information can be found at the AMCIS 2017 website.