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The position of information and communication technology (ICT) services is growing in the European Union (EU) trade, however to different extend in different EU countries. The article aims to identify trade positions of the EU Member States in intra-EU trade and extra-EU trade in ICT services and to assess changes that have taken place in the years 2013–2018. The importance of the EU Member States in trade in ICT services is assessed, followed by the analysis of their trade positions in terms of selected indices. We discovered that countries of the highest importance for the intra-EU and extra-EU trade in ICT services are not holding the best positions in trade in this area, except for Ireland. Additionally, leaders in ICT services trade do better in extra-EU trade rankings than in the EU Internal Market, since the distance does not matter to business operations consequent to the digitalization of economic activities.

Digital technologies and their role in global economic development have been increasing the past two decades. Digitalization has changed many aspects of human society. It had a significant impact on business processes in international trade, reducing costs, increasing the value and speed of cross-border transactions. E-commerce is becoming the most important engine for economic growth. The article examines new digitalization trends in the context of the international trade development. Among the key trends caused by digitalization and affecting international trade, it highlights the following: 1) expanding of globally e-commerce sales and the world marketplaces turnover; 2) increasing the value of international trade in ICT goods and services, and digitally-deliverable services; 3) growth of world exports in services by mode 1 of supply, i.e. cross border supply. The problem of assessing the level of digitalization of the economy and its impact on trade is becoming more and more urgent. Many leading international organizations including OECD, WTO, IMF, UNCTAD are working on developing universal approaches to the formation of terminology in the field of digitalization of trade, measuring digital trade and classifying economic sectors depending on the level of digitalization. The study draws particular attention to these issues. The authors have systematized an extensive list of international indices. The first cluster includes indices characterizing the level of e-commerce markets development. The second cluster contains indices that assess the development of information and communication technologies. Finally, the third cluster of indices assesses penetration of digital technology into economy and life. Indices that assess digital trade policy measures were also examined

The purpose of the article is to assess the integration and management of the formation and implementation of the competitive advantages of the Visegrad Four countries in the European market of information, computer, telecommunication (ICT) services based on their analysis in the individual market segments. Design/ Method/ Approach of the study - This study aims to determine the presence and nature of the competitive advantages of countries in the European ICT services market based on the calculation of export specialization indicators, to establish factors for their growth and effective implementation based on the results of structural, regressive, comparative analysis and synthesis. Results - It has been suggested that the introduction of the European rules for market organization stimulated the building-up in the Visegrad Four countries of their competitive advantages in the European ICT services market through innovative investment resources, effective management of private, public sector and international investors and personnel. The practical significance of the study - The accession of Eastern European countries to the European digital market and digital space requires a generalization of the experience of the Visegrad four countries and the identification of factors, directions and priorities of the national policy for the development of the ICT sector. Originality/ value/ scientific novelty of the study - Based on the calculation of the comparative advantage index, different integration and effectiveness of managing the competitive advantages of the Visegrad Four countries, primarily the sphere of IC services to the European market (relatively high - in the Czech Republic due to state financing, moderate - in Poland due to financial support from the state, in Slovakia due to private investment in R&D, low - in Hungary), this situation requires a balanced innovation and investment strategy of the countries in the future, the training of a sufficient number of qualified IT specialists, stimulation of private investment in R&D and business cooperation with the sphere of knowledge by means of tax and administrative incentives, facilitating the transition of small and medium-sized businesses on the principles of economics 4.0. The type of article is empirical.

Customer satisfaction is an indicator that is generally utilized to improve goods/services for customer retention. Therefore, companies should understand the changes in customers’ perception of their goods/services and decide improvements. Therefore, a transitional evaluation approach is needed for goods/services rather than merely improving items with the highest dissatisfaction score. This paper proposes a transitional method for identifying improvements in video distribution services from questionnaire results over 4 years.

Background: Presently, libraries, especially academic libraries, have increasingly used information and communication technologies (ICTs) to automate their core functions in order to implement efficient and effective library operations and services. This now requires library and information professionals as knowledge workers to intensify managing both explicit and tacit knowledge for the organisational growth of the libraries.Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the use of ICT facilities that support knowledge management (KM) in academic libraries in Nigeria and South Africa.Methods: Both quantitative through survey and structured questionnaires and qualitative by content analysis and interview research methodologies were applied in the initial study. The qualitative approach of content analysis was applied to literature review, and key informants were also interviewed. One hundred and thirty-two professional librarians and six key informants across the sampled academic libraries in the two countries were targeted for information. The study sampled only six academic libraries, three in each country, which renders generalisation difficult. This article largely focuses on quantitative aspects of the study in the reported findings.Results: Availability and accessibility of ICTs for KM among the sampled libraries were not uniform, even within one country. Infrastructural support has affected some of the university libraries to a great extent. The knowledge and skills for using ICT for KM were largely adequate, but varied within the libraries and librarians as well. The challenges facing the libraries border on inadequate infrastructure and professional staff, but irrespective of the challenges faced, libraries have devised strategies for coping and rendering services. The study has provided new information relating to the use of ICT facilities and services for KM in academic libraries that calls for rigorous continuing education for re-skilling the librarians. The changing user behaviour also calls for major attention. Government support for academic libraries with policy and funding is still crucial.Conclusion and recommendation: The study concludes that because ICTs have had robust histories as used to support information services, both staff and students’ information needs to be met in a variety of ways in academic libraries. This would help to foster and improve the understanding of how librarians manage the organisation in present-day library operations. We recommend that staff development be intensified to enable how librarians could cope with changes and new technologies for modern information services being encouraged and acquired. This article provides a unique long-term survey on the use of ICT facilities and services, strategy and structure in an academic and/or university library services.

This issue of the journal of Complex Systems Informatics and Modeling (CSIMQ) presents papers that discuss selected topics on information systems engineering. The papers are extended versions of selected papers from the CAiSE Forum 2016 held in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The CAiSE Forum is a place within the International Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering for disseminating and debating new ideas and tools related to this area.

Advanced e-Government services in modern societies cover the whole spectrum of citizen's daily activities and create the appropriate basis in public administrations for the development of knowledge based economies. Complex information systems and sophisticated networks provide the means to societies for extending the areas of application of such services beyond national borders. Apart of public administrations, federal agencies and international organizations continue to encourage national governments to further exploit Information and Communication Technologies and adopt e-government services aiming to provide the appropriate structure for the application of integrated global economy's and security's systems. E-government systems of such range, facilitating the application of integrated services need to be safe, secure and trusty to all citizens and administrations. Therefore, their development should be based on international cooperation and very advance technology. To this effect, the European Commission is internationally playing an important role since is taking very significant decisions and is initiating major projects to enhance the decisive contribution of e-government services to the global economy as a whole. Nevertheless, diverse social, economic and political systems throughout Europe make this effort of e-Government “for all” a very difficult task. Research is continuously needed since original plans quite often are modified to meet new targets. To the global economy, global security, control of international citizen movement and terrorism have been recently added making e- government systems more complex and mostly needed.

The “House of the Present” is located at the NHL University of Applied Sciences in the city of Leeuwarden in the province of Friesland in the Netherlands. It is a 90 m2 apartment with a kitchen, living room, bedroom, and bathroom. In the “House of the Present” more than 100 objects, solutions, gadgets, and “quickwins” are presented, which can support elderly people in their daily lives in their own homes. The “House of the Present” is a living lab: a presentation and communication instrument. It is designed to inspire students, professionals, and elderly people to use innovative solutions for supporting “staying at home longer” with the use of technology that lessens the care burden for caregivers, increases the quality of care, decreases the financial impact of care, and increases the quality of life for the elderly. The name “House of the Present” was chosen to reflect the fact that the eHealth and home automation technology and solutions on show are already available today. The technological innovations in eHealth and home automation services are identified as part of the solution for supporting elderly people faced with the challenge of a changing society. Society is asking the elderly to take on more responsibility. Platform GEEF has been initiated to support elderly people in the choices they have to make about solutions that can help them. Platform GEEF developed the “House of the Present” and related projects in order to reach its goal of supporting the elderly in their own homes. The information gathered in this chapter provides an idea of what a living lab like the “House of the Present” and its supporting projects can do to support the elderly, nursing assistants, nurses, and caregivers in creating smarter homes equipped to support the elderly in their last years.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a systemic methodology to assess the potential of and facilitate policies for the diffusion of a smartphone based service enabling supply chain (SC) operations in the e-grocery sector. Design/methodology/approach – A System Dynamics (SD) model combining the Bass paradigm for innovation diffusion and an inventory management framework is developed. Semi-structured interviews are conducted to understand the industry business processes; a simple SD model is designed to capture the most important variables together with the relationships among them; a detailed SD model is calibrated and simulation outcomes are analysed. Findings – The efficiency and reliability of the service drive its diffusion among producers and consumers, who in turn persuade retailers to adopt. The assessment methodology can be part of feasibility studies and marketing investigations in order to understand the impact of e-commerce tools on SC processes. Research limitations/implications – This contribution stresses the need to analyse how mobile information technologies may benefit all the business processes of the e-grocery SC, and not just one single process or stakeholder. Practical implications – The approach offers a roadmap to identify the factors influencing the diffusion of mobile e-grocery services as well as the associated impacts on SC processes. Originality/value – The work contributes to overcoming the lack of approaches studying the diffusion of e-grocery by taking into account all the relevant aspects and stakeholders involved and not only the consumer perspective.

The contribution of information and communications technology (ICT) to economic and productivity growth has traditionally been difficult to calculate because of the complex relationship between them, but this relationships is now better understood with ICT now accepted as a transforming and revolutionary ‘general purpose technology’ (GPT). This paper describes the transformation of ICT from back room cost centre to bottom line contributor of significant economic and productivity growth and suggests that the rise of the services industry has had, and will continue to have, a significant role in the continued payoff for ICT.