The Emergence of Information Infrastructure Risk Management in IT Services

Failure to understand, identify, and manage risk is often cited as a major cause of IT problems. While the project is the preferred level of analysis in most IT risk management research, IT is becoming increasingly infrastructural, and there is therefore a need to adapt risk strategies beyond the project level. In this paper, we explore how risk management practices in a successful IT service provider group emerged over time as the group coped with infrastructural dynamics and complexities. Drawing on Orlikowski's practice lens, we investigate actual practices and possible options related to risk management as rapid technological and organizational changes resulted in increased infrastructure management challenges for the IT service provider. Our research contributes to the IT risk management literature by applying risk theory to service management in the infrastructural domain and by moving beyond the project as level of analysis.