e-Transformation technologies: case studies and the road ahead - a value chain perspective

E-transformation technologies, for the past few years, have been evolving towards the goal of information integration and system interoperability. While there is no doubt that interoperable systems can enable many value-added functions and provide new business opportunities, whether the current development trend can really lead to some real impacts on people's daily lives is still a commonly asked question. In this paper, we first describe a value chain of e-transformation that starts from the availability of data from heterogeneous sources and stops at the ultimate goal of autonomous and context-aware computational services provision. Two prototypes, namely e-Bus Planner and e-Food Marketplace are described for demonstrating the promises that can be provided by information integration. We then argue that the value adding process should further be advanced along the chain by analyzing Web-based social networks. The ultimate objective is to benefit the end-users more directly and immediately.