How can a regular person evaluate ISM?

Organisations may arrive at the need for an information system through a number of alternative avenues. It may be a response to an known problem, the realisation of an established ISM strategy, a result of a business process redesign (Davenport,1993), or even imitation of a competitor’s tactics. A meticulous system is initiated with specific business goals in mind, and with a set of primary objectives being sought by the introduction of the system. These objectives constitute the expected benefits that have to be comparatively evaluated against costs, in order to justify it.The costs associated with developing a particular information system are relatively easier to measure in respect to the direct one. Indirect costs arising from implementation set-backs or from organisational resistance to change are virtually impossible to assess a priority.However, in comparative terms, it is significantly more difficult to obtain hard evidence of the expected benefits than it is of the costs. Brown (1994, p. 187) distinguishes between hard and soft benefits. Hard benefits are a direct result of the introduction of the information system and are easily measured. According to Brown (1994), soft benefits include at least intangible, indirect and strategic.Hard benefits are usually related to cost reduction, such as the reduction in data-entry staff made possible by the introduction of an electronic ordering system or to revenue generation, such as the increased through-put as a result of a new production control system.Such measurable benefits are relatively easy to incorporate in traditional investment appraisal techniques. The problem of measurement discussed above is mainly related to the remaining three categories of so-called “soft” ISM benefits .Intangible benefits can be attributed to particular applications but they cannot be easily expressed in quantitative terms. Benefits of this type arise, for example, with the introduction of a decision support system. Such systems are primarily expected to improve the quality of decision making as well as the job structure of their users.

 

It is difficult to define “quality of decision making” and “jobstructure”. Second, even if this is achieved, it may still be difficult to assign a quantitative measure of improvement in advance (eg monetary).Indirect benefits are potentially easy to measure but cannot be wholly attributable to the proposed investment and can only be realised as a result of further investments,enabled by the new system.Strategic benefits refer to positive impacts that are realised in the long run and usually come as a result of the synergistic interaction among a number of contributing factors. They are the outcome of, for example, a new business strategy or a better market positioning of the organisation, which can only be partially attributed to a given ISM. Such benefits are  difficult to quantify in advance due to their very nature and to the risk associated with their realisation.

 

Summary:- It must be noted that rarely does one information system yield one type of benefits alone. Any given information system can be expected to deliver a range of various types of benefits. Moreover, different kinds of systems can produce different combinations of types of benefits,thus a regular individua apply  this approach to understand the basis of ISM.

 

Is ISM the future?

 In the emerging markets Information system technologies are changing the framework of business.According to Todd stephens we could visualize ISM 10 yrs from now .We could refer to this link  http://www.tdan.com/view-special-features/5406.

 

 

 

We could look at examples of industries and try and understand in the direction ISM is progressing .John Cross IT Outsourcing:  British Petroleum’s Competitive Approach,Harvard Business Review,  1995. In 1993, BP Exploration Operating Co. Ltd., the $13 billion division of British Petroleum Co. that explores for and produces oil and gas, outsourced all its information technology operations in an effort to cut costs, gain more flexible and higher quality ISM resources, and refocus the IT department on activities that directly improve the overall business. BP Exploration took a different path to outsourcing than most companies have taken. The company sought a solution that would allow it both to buy ISM services from multiple suppliers and to have the pieces delivered as if they came from a single supplier. To that end, three contractors were hired and required to work together to deliver a single seamless service. This arrangement–multiple IT suppliers that act as one–is the cornerstone of the company’s outsourcing strategy. The IT department has final accountability for ISMservices, but it is not mired in the operations.  

According to Mahmoud  M. Watad, Frank J. Di Sanzo in their case study  of Synergism of telecommuting and office automation, 2000, .A company’s sales workforce must be able to present their products and services using state-of-the-art personal computer technology. Communicating  effectively with the company’s main office and the  salesforce working in the field must be able to collect and transmit order data from remote locations. A debate of how a company combined salesforce automation with a telecommuting program to create 2 new business strategies designed to improve organizational performance is presented. A ISM framework for conducting a cost/benefit analysis is also provided. It is concluded that the start-up cost of the telenetwork program was high because the IT infrastructure was not current; however, the direct costs and savings offset each other within 3 to 4 years. This shows where ISM is trying to fill in the gap.

 

 Further Philip W. Yetton, Kim D.  Johnston and Jane F.  Craig in their case study of IT and strategic change, 1994.Their thought process is that in traditional theories of how ISM  is applied, a firm develops a business strategy, then chooses the structure and management processes, aligns ISM and ensures that employees are trained and their roles are well designed.  Scrutiny is presented of a case in which business transformation occurred along a different, almost reverse, path to fit, through the incremental adoption of ISM.  At Flower and Samios, a small architectural firm located in Australia, business strategy emerged gradually and was an outcome, rather than a driver, of change.  The organisation shows how individual mastery, organizational learning, and the management of risk are critical components of a strategic change in which ISM  becomes an integral part of a firm’s core business processes.

 Summary:- Only by relinquishing operations could  employees begin to focus on te core of doing business instead of just running the business.ISM peeps in to the future can gives a broader outlook.  

 

Why invest in ISM?

According to N. Venkatraman, ISM -enabled business transformation from automation to business scope redefinition,1994.He is of a opinion that the role of ISM  in shaping tomorrow’s business operations is a distinctive one.  It has become a fundamental facilitator in creating and maintaining a flexible business network.  A framework that breaks IT-enabled business transformation into 5 levels is described and guidelines are offered for deriving maximal benefits. The framework is based on 2 dimensions: the range of ISM potential benefits and the degree of organizational transformation.  The central thesis is that the benefits from ISM deployment can be derived in existing organizational conditions if the framework levels are localized exploitation, internal integration, business process redesign, business network redesign,business scope redefinition.

 

 

In another of N. Venkatraman  piece of work  along with John C. Henderson, Real strategies for virtual organizing, 1998 they strongly feel an architecture for virtual organizing is developed that focuses on the importance of knowledge and intellect in creating value.  Information technology lies at the heart of this business model for the next century. This approach incorporates  customer interaction,  asset configuration, and  knowledge leverage.  Each of the  3 stages raises a distinct series of questions for managers.  The overall challenge for companies is to harmonize the 3 avenues and to undertake external benchmarking when experimenting with different approaches to design.

 

 

 Renae  Broderick and John W. Boudreau, 1992 are  of a opinion ISM  can improve human resources (HR) administrative, operational, and planning decisions.  However, the viable potential of many investments in HR information technology has not been fully exploited.  A framework is proposed that can help managers see the ways in which different types of computer applications can help achieve competitive objectives.  The primary areas of HR competitive objectives considered are cost leadership, quality and customer satisfaction, and innovation.  These objectives are matched with different computer applications to show the way that such matches offer competitive benefits.  Three specific applications are considered transaction processing, reporting, and tracking systems, expert systems and  decision support systems.  

 

 

 Summary:- Organizations should first determine the level at which benefits are in line with the costs or efforts of the needed changes and then proceed to higher levels as the demands of competition and the need to deliver greater value to the customer increases,thus this give us a broad conceptualization of the need to invest in information systems.

 

 

How can regular person evaluate ism

 

A meticulous system is initiated with specific business goals in mind, and with a set of primary objectives being sought by the introduction of the system. These objectives constitute the expected benefits that have to be comparatively evaluated against costs, in order to justify it.The costs associated with developing a particular information system are relatively easier to measure in respect to the direct one. Indirect costs arising from implementation set-backs or from organisational resistance to change are virtually impossible to assess a priority.

However, in comparative terms, it is significantly more difficult to obtain hard evidence of the expected benefits than it is of the costs. Brown (1994, p. 187) distinguishes between hard and soft benefits. Hard benefits are a direct result of the introduction of the information system and are easily measured. According to Brown (1994), soft benefits include at least intangible, indirect and strategic.Hard benefits are usually related to cost reduction, such as the reduction in data-entry staff made possible by the introduction of an electronic ordering system or to revenue generation, such as the increased through-put as a result of a new production control system.Such measurable benefits are relatively easy to incorporate in traditional investment appraisal techniques.

 

The problem of measurement discussed above is mainly related to the remaining three categories of so-called soft ISM benefits .Intangible benefits can be attributed to particular applications but they cannot be easily expressed in quantitative terms. Benefits of this type arise, for example, with the introduction of a decision support system. Such systems are primarily expected to improve the quality of decision making as well as the job structure of their users. It is difficult to define quality of decision making and jobstructure.

 

 Even if this is achieved, it may still be difficult to assign a quantitative measure of improvement in advance (eg monetary). Indirect benefits are potentially easy to measure but cannot be wholly attributable to the proposed investment and can only be realised as a result of further investments,enabled by the new system.Strategic benefits refer to positive impacts that are realised in the long run and usually come as a result of the synergistic interaction among a number of contributing factors. They are the outcome of, for example, a new business strategy or a better market positioning of the organisation, which can only be partially attributed to a given ISM. Such benefits are  difficult to quantify in advance due to their very nature and to the risk associated with their realisation.

 

 

Summary:- It must be noted that rarely does one information system yield one type of benefits alone. Any given information system can be expected to deliver a range of various types of benefits. Moreover, different kinds of systems can produce different combinations of types of benefits, thus a regular individual can use this yardstick to evaluate Ism