Benefits Of IT Research Articles

Beyond the IT productivity paradox

Despite the massive investments in Information Technology in the developed economies, the IT impact on productivity and business performance continues to be questioned. The paper critically reviews this IT productivity paradox debate and finds that an important part, but by no means all, of the uncertainty about the IT payoff relates to weaknesses in measurement and evaluation practice. Based on extensive research by the authors and others, an integrated systems lifecycle approach is put forward as a long term way of improving evaluation practice in work organizations. The approach shows how to link business and IT/IS strategies with prioritizing investments in IT, and by setting up a set of interlinking measures, how IT costs and benefits may be evaluated and managed across the systems lifecycle, including consideration of potential uses of the external IT services market. An emphasis on a cultural change in evaluation from ‘control through numbers’ to a focus on quality improvement offers one of the better routes out of the productivity paradox. Improved evaluation practice serves to demystify the paradox, but also links with and helps to stimulate improved planning for management and use of IT, thus also reducing the paradox in practical terms - through the creation of greater business value.

TOXICOKINETICS: ITS BENEFITS AND PROBLEMS

TOXICOKINETICS: ITS BENEFITS AND PROBLEMS

The role of information systems and technology (IS/IT) in investment banks

Based upon a survey of the literature and a small- scale case study, this paper considers the role of IS and IT within investment banks. Do investment banks receive value for money from their investment in IT, and how can IT be evaluated for their contribution to profitability? The paper concludes that failure to implement techniques for system atically identifying and quantifying IT costs and benefits has made it difficult for them to determine the level of added value resulting from such investment and the contribution of IT towards the bottom line. The paper also considers what role technology plays in the strategic management process, and if a distinct IT/IS strategy is necessary. The paper concludes that it is essential to incorporate both information and IT strategy into the strategic management process, to ensure that IT is concentrated in those areas in which it can add most value. Finally, the paper considers the potential for deriving competitive advantage from IT. The paper concludes that IT generally performs only a support function and does not generate long-term competitive advantage. The paper further concludes that senior management's lack of aware ness of, and belief in, the relevance of IT to corporate strategy, coupled with the failure to integrate IT strategy within the strategic management process, acts as a constraint upon realising the full potential of IT.

Brief: Information Technology as an Aid to Productivity in Petroleum Exploration - Fact or Fiction?

Summary This paper considers the relationship between information technology investment, technical productivity, and business benefit. The effect of introducing IT to the industry and its impact on geoscience is described, along with a discussion of whether investment in IT has brought the expected benefits to other industries. The paper concludes with a consideration of the present business perceptions of IT and asks whether a company, by concentrating solely on such issues as technical productivity, will actually maximize the benefits of IT. Introduction The upstream petroleum industry has progressively adopted IT since the mid-1950's to aid technical operations. By the late 1980's, nearly all exploration companies had invested heavily in IT. Recently, many companies have begun to scrutinize the costs and benefits of IT more closely. As in other industries, there has been a movement in the petroleum industry to constrain IT expenditures. A major justification for continued investment in IT has been that the resulting technological change will directly improve business performance through increased productivity. This contention is now being questioned in the more difficult operating conditions of the early 1990's because of a growing belief that IT investment has not produced many of the supposed benefits. Application of IT in Petroleum Exploration The deployment of IT in petroleum exploration has had a significant impact on technical practices. The initial applications of IT were in areas like reservoir modeling, seismic processing, and mapping, which required intensive numeric calculations. During the late 1970's and early 1980's, hardware advances (e.g., the appearance of workstations) and software developments (e.g., on-line editors and on-screen graphics) enabled the creation of interactive applications. The possibility of manipulating and interpreting geological data on screen was regarded in many companies as a significant aid to productivity and critical to achieving technical excellence.

MEASURING TECHNOLOGY’S BUSINESS VALUE

Despite the many reported examples of the efficient and effective use of information technology, senior management continues to express doubts about the real benefits of IT. Organizations in the northeastern US were surveyed to determine how they measure the business value of IT. These organizations report the need for measures to assess two areas: the performance of the IS function and the impact of IT on the organization.

Managing Information

Argues that the amount and complexity of paperwork is increasing, yet investment in replacing manual record‐keeping systems is often a low priority. Highlights the experience of Presswork (Metals) Ltd, which has invested in IT as part of an integrated TQM strategy. Quotes senior managers and charts the progress of the company′s TQM approach, including employee involvement, training and customer/supplier relationships. Concludes that what the company is doing is nothing new, but simply adopting to best advantage the benefits of IT.

Organizational implications of information technology in third world countries

AbstractThe effective implementation of IT initiatives within organizations depends on its degree of acceptance at the national level and its rate of absorption within the focal organization. This paper focuses on the latter by addressing the key issues influencing the capacity of organizations to successfully implement IT initiatives. The various issues are investigated based on a case study approach using examples from Tanzania, and organized into a systems framework by considering the role of the psycho‐social, the technical, the structural, the goal and the managerial systems in turn. The conclusion highlights the need of appropriate education if the full benefits of IT are to be harvested.

An Appraisal of the Competitive Benefits of IT

An Appraisal of the Competitive Benefits of IT

An Appraisal of the Competitive Benefits of IT

An Appraisal of the Competitive Benefits of IT

Software prototyping in the curriculum

Abstract From 1982 to 1984, Philip Veasey was Associate Professor in Business Science at the University of East Asia, Macau. In this article he gives an account of certain Information Technology courses which he taught at that time. They led him to the conclusion that the academic community must react quickly by incorporating new approaches to software development into the curriculum if opportunities are not to be lost of bringing real IT benefits to developing countries. This he considers to be particularly important for Business or other non‐specialist courses.

The banks and their use of information technology

The banking system is probably the one area of daily life in which the general public is most exposed to the benefits of IT. In adopting the technology to offer new services the banks are casting off their former ‘overcautious’ image … but not without a coherent integrated financial strategy