-
Donald J Mcmonagle wrote a new post on the site MIS2101 – Spring 2015 9 years, 7 months ago
Today, information systems are essential for businesses who would like to stay competitive within their markets. According to this article, IT has the potential to completely transform the supply side of business and to flatten organizational hierarchies. Those businesses that have adapted and embraced IT innovation have seen tremendous growth, as they are able to cut costs by effectively managing their information systems. However, unlike product innovation, IT innovation can take months, sometimes years to implement entirely throughout a company. For example, e-selling can be hard to undertake, as it requires the integration of many departments in the system, and is often very complex and difficult for larger IT companies to manage. While it can be difficult to manage, implementation of a new IT system should be seen as an innovative process. Through the process, companies learn about their system and use it to create a competitive advantage above the competition.
1. Why hasn’t it become easier to implement a new IT system company-wide with all of the advances we’ve seen in technology in recent years?
2. Do you think it is possible for companies to survive nowadays without having some sort of information system in place?
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/7032.html
It seems from the article that a major problem is the resistance to the change. Many groups or individuals in a company enjoy holding power in a hierarchy system and control in the system. The article notes that much of this comes as being seen as a “radical change”. Perhaps a way to speed up some of these changes so it doesn’t take years to implement is spending time getting more people involved from departments and showing it as a normal change, rather than a radical one.