The Covid-Pandemic at the beginning of 2020 has in one way or another affected and limited how employees work. Changes such as companies with the possibility relocating the work to the employees' homes, changes in spontaneous interactions, new working methods have been formed and new tools have been launched. This new situation has led to several challenges and opportunities regarding how employees collaborate and share knowledge about customer needs. The purpose of the thesis has been to investigate how software companies have adapted methods, activities and work processes. The purpose is answered by investigating the processes for requirements and needs analysis and for mapping collaboration tools, the work situation from home, interactions within the project group and the opportunities and obstacles that exist in contact with customers. A qualitative interview study was conducted at two software companies with six informants in different roles with three requirements: that they worked remotely during the pandemic, that they have customer contact and are involved in software development.

The results show that distance work leads to opportunities in the combination of work and private life, for example no travel time and easier planning of picking up children from school. Furthermore, the results point to challenges and difficulties in digital interactions between work colleagues and customers in that, for example, it is difficult to interpret body language, facial expressions and silence and that spontaneous interactions have decreased. The challenges lead to becoming difficult to perceive tacit knowledge, which can affect the work with requirements analysis and in turn the product. 

The results were analysed by considering how knowledge about customer needs is created, for example which methods are used and which conditions the project group lives up to for successful knowledge sharing at a distance. The analysis shows that the increased use of digital tools has created a social acceptance for digital meetings, which has resulted in frequent contact with customers and the creation of more data in the form of, for example, recorded meetings. When the work is done exclusively with digital tools, more roles can be involved earlier in the development process. When communication takes place digitally, a reduction in understanding of the customer's needs can be experienced when, for example, informal meetings no longer take place and methods such as observations are no longer used.

Project groups should adapt to meet the challenges posed by the distance by, for example, meeting colleagues in digital meetings at least once a day for no one to feel alone and to strengthen cohesion. Digital interviews and customer feedback take place more often and lead to an increased amount of stored data in the form of, for example, recordings and meeting notes. The increase in data needs to be managed for it to be easily accessible to project members. Furthermore, project groups try to adapt to the reduction in understanding and perception of tacit knowledge by no longer using activities such as observations and workshops.

Recent public artificial intelligence (AI) advancements, particularly ChatGPT, are predicted to transform whole industries, work roles and organisational structures, leading to some jobs becoming obsolete while also creating new opportunities. This qualitative research explores the effects of ChatGPT on work roles and organisations in the information technology (IT) industry, more specifically, the effects on skills, competence, and organisational processes such as the automation of routine and non-routine tasks. The aim is to fill the gap in how ChatGPT affects the IT industry and to provide recommendations for policy makers, companies, and workers to address these challenges. Two research questions were formulated: “How does the increasing adoption of ChatGPT in internal work processes of businesses in the IT industry change work roles” and “impact the organisation and what are the potential implications for changes in work roles due to ChatGPT?”. To explore and answer these questions two data collection methods were used such as semi-structured interviews and qualitative questionnaires, with a combined sample size of 14 participants. The data was analysed using thematic as well as content analysis and the theoretical framework. The findings suggest that adopting ChatGPT is indeed transforming work roles and organisations by automating routine and non-routine tasks, leading to efficiency and cost savings. While some roles and skills change, others become entirely obsolete. The impact varies based on organisational factors, the nature of work and adaptability to new technologies, leading to the emergence of new opportunities in AI management and big data. Smaller companies in particular benefit from implementing ChatGPT, allowing focus on other tasks such as for example strategic development. Organisational challenges include training employees and adapting to new technology as well as concerns for job loss.