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The global demand for web-based applications regarding financial products and services drives the financial sector to innovate through Information and Communication Technology (ICT) projects. The ICT projects are launched for the diffusion (spread) and implementation of new software or hardware by using web-based platforms in order to offer innovative financial products and services across the branch bank system. These projects are initiated, diffused, managed and implemented by global actors, so-called ICT change agents. Despite the increased recruitment of ICT change agents, there is relatively little research available regarding ICT change agents in financial services projects. Specifically, little consideration is given to the interaction process between formal and informal ICT change agents' roles. Based on a case study methodology in Australia and Germany, this research indicates that deadline-oriented projects drive ICT change agents to play various formal and informal roles. Their formal roles are performed in accordance with organisational settings and project management standards, whereas their informal operations are due to the rapid-changing and global nature of ICT technologies. The findings are summed up in a new framework which indicates that both types of roles impact on the outcomes of financial services technology projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Delivering technology projects on time with a specified budget and resources has emerged as a strategic imperative in the highly competitive business world. One of the project challenges is increasingly tied to diffusion (spread) of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) innovation. This paper presents an empirical study that examines how ICT innovation is diffused within technology projects. Based on the case study methodology within 12 organisations in Australia and Germany, it emerged that ICT innovation is diffused formally alongside standard project management phases and informally within informal networks. The findings are synthesised in a new framework that seeks to inform theory and practice about formal and informal processes of ICT diffusion in technology projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]