Question 1

a) There are many barriers in transforming information systems from a problem to an

opportunity. Identify barriers to implementing an information system.

Introduction

Information Technology has revolutionalized the way business is done around the world. The
change in business models goes beyond interaction with outside players to encompass how
internal processes or players interact. This research paper explores in detail the barriers related to
the implementation of an information system. Adoption of technology comes with a variety of
challenges that have to be borne into the mind of management (Grant, 2014) . Consequently, this
paper further explores the challenges involved in implementing an information system solution.
Every new technology has its own complexities and an information system solutions are not an
exception.

Information System Implementation Challenges

Somers and Nelson (2013) predicate that before implementing or adopting a new technology,
organizations have to consider the challenges associated with the implementation or adoption of
that type of technology. Information system implementation involves some major challenges.
Further, Somers and Nelson (2013) insist that without proper identification of these challenges
and mitigation when implementing an information system solution, a lot of time, resources and
knowledge can be wasted. Early risk identification ensures that success is achieved when
deploying an information system. Recently, Grant (2014) explains that a quality culture demands
that implementation challenges are mitigated long before the actual implementation starts. Some
of the challenges associated with the implementation of an information system relate to the
complexity of an application, lack of end user experience and lack of clear job definition for
members handling the project. For any systems to successfully be utilized in an organization,
good end user support is critical.
Lack of User Support

End user support involves the ownership and participation of the end user in the implementation
of the program. Grant (2014) postulates that a lack end user support poses a huge risk in
implementing an information system project in an organization. Where end users are not
properly involved and engaged, such end users may tend to sabotage the project. Workers will
basically refuse to use new applications or they may resort to vandalism in extreme cases. In the
absence of proper role specification, the information system project team can jeopardize the
implementation of the information system. The information system implementation team should
be able to grasp and understand the technical complexity of the application they are to implement
(Accenture, 2014). Understanding the complexity and role one has to play helps towards better
coordinated efforts in the execution of the project.

Failure to Coordinate

Coordination is a critical management function that is a requirement in project implementation if

such projects are to be successes. Grant (2014) and Somers and Nelson (2013) argue that lack of
proper coordination within the information system implementation team notwithstanding, poor
liaising between the organization’s top management and the project team can also result in
project failure. In a majority of cases, information system implementation requires an enabling
organizational structure. Therefore, information system alone cannot really improve performance
in an organization unless all the business functions are made responsive to the demands of the
market. Organizations have to restructure their operational processes to fit the functionality of an
information system. Top management has to believe in the value of an information system
solution that is, the implementation should be seen as a business initiative (Somers & Nelson,
2013). Failure to secure proper top management support and organization-wide acceptance and
participation of employees, an information system implementation can easily be scuttled. Closely
analysing the two foregoing paragraphs, it should be clear that top management, project team and
organizational employees have a stake or a say in information system implementation. Therefore,
problems in the implementation can occur in case any of the groups lost project control.
Loss of Control

The implementation challenge is greatest in cases where the information system project team lost
control to employees. Further, the challenge is also greatest if top management loses all
information system implementation control to the project team (Accenture, 2014; Booth,
Matolcsy and Weider, 2012). Control in an organization is very essential. It provides for order
and delineates a chain of command thus ensuring that decisions are only made by authorized
individuals. Grant (2014) points out that it is imperative that the implementation process is well
planned and coordinated; bringing all stakeholders on board right from the start. In order to
ensure effective decision making and enabling proper information system implementation,
information collection and dissemination with regard to the system has to be an ongoing
endeavour (Stein & Hawking, 2011).

The information collected and disseminated should help all involved understand the technical
aspects of the system and developing functionality. Bardhan (2013) posits that a good reporting
structure has to be established and the project team allowed enough autonomy necessary for
awesome execution. The reporting mechanisms ensure that feedback on the project is shared
continually; both upwards and downward communication. Once an information system solution
has been implemented, it tends to decentralize and devolve certain functions in the organization
(Bardhan, 2013; Accenture, 2014). For instance, information that was originally not easily
accessible to low-ranking employees becomes accessible. An information system reduces the
power distance between top employees and lower cadre employees.

Organisation Structure and Culture

Unless, organizational structure and culture is streamlined, an information system may

precipitate a crisis in an organization (Brown et al., 2015). The information solution demands or
leads to the empowerment of lower or middle level employees. Management has to redefine
control measures and realign the organization towards a more decentralized power structure.
Cost Management

Costs management is another area an organization has to look into before choosing to implement
an information system. To set up an information system, an organization has to spend heavily on
software, hardware, consultation, implementation costs and training. If costs are not managed
properly, an information system implementation becomes too expensive (Somers & Nelson,
2013). According to Somers and Nelson (2013) costs can be managed through identification of
right software and using competitive implementers. Management has to consider the time
available for the implementation of the system. Information system implementation projects are
known to take longer than other ordinary Information management systems (Stein & Hawkins,
2011). The time spent on information system implementation may cost the company business.
Therefore, contingent plans have to be instituted to deal with any possible inconveniences to
business due to information system implementation.

Deficiency of Relevant Skills

The final information system implementation challenge consideration that management has to
make before embarking on an information implementation is the available house skills. If
relevant knowledge and skills are lacking in the organization, the implementation team has to be
sourced from outside the organization (Stein & Hawkins, 2011; Brown et al., 2015). Further, this
implies that the organization has to work on equipping staff with the required skills necessary
before switching to information use (Booth, Matolcsy and Wieder, 2012). In order to effectively
deal with these challenges, management has to be well versed in change management practice.

Conclusion

Advancement in information technology is a key driver of organizations’ competitive advantage

in modern times. It is for this reason that organizations are embracing information technology
changes as fast as they can. An information system plays an integral role in enhancing an
organization’s growth. Organizations, which have endeavoured to carefully and systematically
implement information systems, have registered many benefits. One such benefit is fast delivery
of services due to integrated processes. However, because of the complexity involved in
implementing information applications, organizations should have well-choreographed plans.
The implementation of the system requires closer coordination among all stakeholders.
Necessarily, the project management should be left to experts. However, the participation of all
employees is very crucial for the successful implementation of information system.

b) Define Customer Relationship Management system and explain any two (2) advantages
of such a system.

Customer Relationship Management system refers to a technology for managing all firm’s
relationships and interactions with customers and potential customers (Accenture, 2014). It is a
software system that helps business owners easily track all communications and nurture
relationships with their leads and clients. The use of CRM systems can benefit firms ranging
from small businesses to large corporations.

Increased Sales
Having customer information such as past purchases and interaction history easily accessible can
help customer support representatives provide better and faster customer service. When
customers keep coming back, your sales will keep increasing. CRMs help you build your sales
pipeline by streamlining the sales process and automating the main tasks. It allows you to
analyze all of your sales data and store it in one centralized place, which can be accessed by
anyone who needs it. This capability will help your business set up a step-by-step sales process
that your employees can adapt as needed.

Analytics
Collection of and access to customer data can assist businesses identify trends and insights about
their customers through reporting and visualization features. Sales force automation tools track
customer interactions and automate certain business functions of the sales cycle that are
necessary to leads, obtain new customers and customer loyalty. CRMs will have built-in
analytics that are able to contextualize customer data. These metrics, such as click-through rates,
bounce rates and demographic data, can demonstrate the success of a campaign and highlight
opportunities for further optimization.

c) Distinguish between data and information.

Computers process data into information. Data is a collection of unprocessed items, which can
include text, numbers, images, audio, and video. Information conveys meaning and is useful to
people. The two terms further distinguished in the table below:

Data Information

It is a low level knowledge It is the second level knowledge

It is unorganized It is organized or structured

It does not depend on information It depends on data

Question 2

(a) What features of organizations help explain differences in organizations use of

information systems?

Introduction
Information systems and organizations influence one another. Information systems are built by
managers to serve the interests of the business firm (Lei, Guo, Zhang and Cheung, 2021). At the
same time, the organization must be aware of and open to the influences of information systems
to benefit from new technologies. The interaction between information technology and
organizations is complex and is influenced by many mediating factors, including the
organization’s structure, business processes, politics, culture, surrounding environment, and
management decisions.

Organizational Politics

People in organizations occupy different positions with different specialties, concerns, and
perspectives. As a result, they naturally have divergent viewpoints about how resources, rewards,
and punishments should be distributed. These differences matter to both managers and
employees, and they result in political struggle for resources, competition, and conflict within
every organization. Political resistance is one of the great difficulties of bringing about
organizational change especially the development of new information systems (Lei et al., 2021).
Virtually all large information systems investments by a firm that bring about significant changes
in strategy, business objectives, business processes, and procedures become politically charged
events. Managers that know how to work with the politics of an organization will be more
successful than less-skilled managers in implementing new information systems.

Organizational Structure

Organizations all have a structure or shape. The kind of information systems you find in a
business firm and the nature of problems with these systems often reflects the type of
organizational structure. For instance, in a professional bureaucracy such as a hospital it is not
unusual to find parallel patient record systems operated by the administration, another by
doctors, and another by other professional staff such as nurses and social workers. In small
entrepreneurial firms you will often find poorly designed systems developed in a rush that often
outgrow their usefulness quickly (Chorafas, 2010). In huge multi-divisional firms operating in
hundreds of locations you will often find there is not a single integrating information system, but
instead each locale or each division has its set of information systems.

Organizational Environments

The role of information systems in helping organizations perceive changes in their environments
and also in helping organizations act on their environments. Information systems are key
instruments for environmental scanning, helping managers identify external changes that might
require an organizational response. Environments generally change much faster than
organizations. New technologies, new products, and changing public tastes and many of which
result in new government regulations put strains on any organization’s culture, politics, and
people. Most organizations are unable to adapt to a rapidly changing environment (Cheng,
Sharma, Shen and Ng, 2021). Inertia built into an organization’s standard operating procedures,
the political conflict raised by changes to the existing order, and the threat to closely held
cultural values inhibit organizations from making significant changes. Young firms typically lack
resources to sustain even short periods of troubled times.

Routines and Business Processes

All organizations, including business firms, become very efficient over time because individuals
in the firm develop routines for producing goods and services. Routines are sometimes called
standard operating procedures are precise rules, procedures, and practices that have been
developed to cope with virtually all expected situations. As employees learn these routines, they
become highly productive and efficient, and the firm is able to reduce its costs over time as
efficiency increases. For instance, when you visit a doctor’s office, receptionists have a well-
developed set of routines for gathering basic information from you; nurses have a different set of
routines for preparing you for an interview with a doctor; and the doctor has a well-developed set
of routines for diagnosing you. All organizations are composed of individual routines and
behaviours, a collection of which make up a business process (Żywiołek, Rosak-Szyrocka and
Jereb, 2021) A collection of business processes make up the business firm. New information
system applications require that individual routines and business processes change to achieve
high levels of organizational performance.

Organizational Culture

Organizational culture encompasses this set of assumptions about what products the organization
should produce, how it should produce them, where, and for whom. Generally, these cultural
assumptions are taken totally for granted and are rarely publicly announced or spoken about.
Business processes are the actual way business firms produce value and are usually ensconced in
the organization’s culture.

For instance, organizational culture at work by looking around the university or college. Some
bedrock assumptions of university life are that professors know more than students, the reason
students attend college is to learn, and classes follow a regular schedule. Organizational culture
is a powerful unifying force that restrains political conflict and promotes common understanding,
agreement on procedures, and common practices. If we all share the same basic cultural
assumptions, agreement on other matters is more likely.

At the same time, organizational culture is a powerful restraint on change, especially

technological change. Most organizations will do almost anything to avoid making changes in
basic assumptions (Betz, 2012). Any technological change that threatens commonly held cultural
assumptions usually meets a great deal of resistance. However, there are times when the only
sensible way for a firm to move forward is to employ a new technology that directly opposes an
existing organizational culture. When this occurs, the technology is often stalled while the
culture slowly adjusts.

(b) Identify and explain four basic elements of a system.

Introduction

A system is a group of interrelated components working together towards a common goal, by

accepting inputs and producing outputs in an organized transformation process. The interrelated
components which are systematically arranged to form a system are called subsystems.

Input
Input involves capturing and assembling elements that enter the system to be processed. For
example, raw materials, energy, data, and human effort must be secured and organized for
processing.

Process
Processing involves transformation processes that convert input into output. Examples are
manufacturing processes, the human breathing process, or mathematical calculations.

Output
Output involves transferring elements that have been produced by a transformation process to
their ultimate destination. For example, finished products, human services, and management
information must be transmitted to their human users.

Feedback and control

Feedback is data about the performance of a system. For example, data about sales performance
are feedback to a sales manager. Data about the speed, altitude, attitude, and direction of an
aircraft are feedback to the aircraft’s pilot or autopilot.

Control involves monitoring and evaluating feedback to determine whether a system is moving
toward the achievement of its goal. The control function then makes the necessary adjustments to
a system’s input and processing components to ensure that it produces proper output. For
example, a sales manager exercises control when reassigning salespersons to new sales territories
after evaluating feedback about their sales performance. An airline pilot, or the aircraft’s
autopilot, makes minute adjustments after evaluating the feedback from the instruments to ensure
the plane is exactly where the pilot wants it to be.

(c) Explain the valuable uses of Information Technology in:

i) Human Resources
You can also practice teleworking, working at home while accessing all the information you
need on the company’s computer and sending information to the office (other employees) using
electronic mail. Teleworking has a number of advantages – no interruptions from other workers,
no travelling to and from the office, flexible working hours. In addition the company saves on
office space, office equipment and other facilities like a canteen.

A major drawback is lack of interaction with work colleagues. This implies that in such an
environment there is less emphasis on teamwork. The social side is also affected as there is lack
of human contact and the exchange of ideas that comes from that contact.

Payroll packages help in the administration of payrolls and annual tax returns.

Spreadsheets programs are now being used in most companies for financial and what-if analysis.

Database management systems have been developed to keep company information, for example
information about every employee.

ii) Sales and marketing.

Advertising can be done on the Internet.

E-business is “electronic business” using the Internet for both business to business and business
to consumer transactions. This will allow organisations to communicate more efficiently with
both suppliers and customers, and facilitate improvements in supply chain management and
customer relationship management.

Electronic Point of Sale Terminals (EPOS) at checkout points monitor sales and control stock.
They use Bar Code Readers to read bar codes on products. These black and white bars hold
information to identify the specific product.
When an item is sold the correct price is automatically retrieved from the computer, and sales
file and stock file records are updated.
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