A Manager who is about to invest in IT
You may be building up happy expectations to your new business life…yeah! New fancy systems are coming to your department!!!! Systems will help all employees carry out their projects, their works in more efficient ways. Everything will be fine, life will be changed drastically, you may not cry anymore for no-win situation in your department! The great systems will make EVERYTHING fine.
Well, please hold on! As much as its benefit, there are several potential risks for using IT. Systems are not the answer to life. As long as every single employee who will be concerned in IT are not well posted and prepared, systems might not bring any profits to the organization and end up just wasting the cost. Therefore in order to make use of IT effectively, assessing and mitigating potential risks for IT is inevitable.
Introducing IT systems is accompanied by huge risks for organizations. If systems are not used by the end users properly, it will rather bring miserable disadvantages. Therefore do not let the IT professionals everything about systems! Do not let them designing or purchasing systems without your consulting! Strong commitments through ongoing monitoring and assessment from the manager are necessary.
Bellow are factors one should consider, as well as miserable disasters that might be brought to you…
Validity of Systems:
Communication between the IT technicians, the managers, and the end users is necessary. The information system should be the one that is related to the principles of work for the company. It is quite critical to recognize and focus on how systems can enhance the organization profits. Systems and software themselves are not everything; the kind of value they can bring to work is the key.
Performance:
Have you consulted any of your employees on the possible implementation of a new information technology system? Would they be happy to have a new system? Would they accept such change? Some of them have been doing work on their own ways for many years. They might have developed their own know-how. New information technology would imply for your employees that they have to adapt their way of working. Change is accompanied by pains, troubles and hesitations. Some of them might not want to rely on systems, as it often does not enhance the human aspects of an organisation. Most of the time, these systems do rational choices; however, are rational choices always right? Do figures or data always show the truth? Therefore again…are you really sure that your employee will use this system?
Manageability:
Does every one have the required knowledge for such a new technology? This is a simple question, but WOULD YOU AND YOUR EMPLOYEE KNOW HOW TO USE IT? Or would the staff hesitate to open thick manuals that explain how to make use of such systems? Are terminologies in the dictionary not too difficult for them to understand? Are employees complaining about the complexity of systems, shouting “this is neither practical nor realistic!”? Are IT technicians giggling that employees are stupid as they do not know even how to open up systems? These are the questions that deeply influence the acceptance of systems, and therefore, should be considered in advance.
Sociability:
What if, due to the introduction of an IT system, conversations between employees fade away? Everyone might be sitting in front the PC, entirely relying on communication through the system. It might take ages to make decisions on tiny issues, that might have been solved in a second through interpersonal, direct communication. What if your office becomes like a ghost town? No more face to face discussions, no more laughing…
Security:
How can you protect your data in the system? Back-up technologies and protection are to be considered during the process of evaluating whether to acquire a new IT system. Risks are both internal and external. As for external risks, hackers and system attack should be considered. What will you do if your system is attacked by outside hackers? What if the IT specialists are all in vacations and no one is not available? Will you log into it and fight with strange hackers? If systems break down, your important data will be lost and might not be recovered! Do you have enough backup possibilities?
As regards to internal factors, what if one of your employee accesses the database and leaks confidential information? Remember the scandal during the big war of the US presidential election campaign? Employees might access your database illegally and sell personal information to outsiders. In this sense, the moral of employees is crucial. Their attitude should be considered because they are required to successful use of systems. Unauthorized access to systems, illegal use of information and the awareness of the security are important issues, indeed.
Cost:
It is quite complicated to judge if systems can lead to effective performance in the organization. Do you have enough confidence and numerical evidence that it will bring advantage, like efficiency and effectiveness to your company? Does the cost of systems meet the profitability for the organization? Is the cost of such systems is justified by future increased profitability?
How to solve these issues?
I hope now you understand the risks that introducing systems has. If the concept and the principle of systems cannot be understood by the end users, systems do not bring any benefit to the organization. One has to be aware of that issue and constant communication is necessary. As for the employees, training could be one of the solutions for these dilemmas, especially acceptance of IT and security.
(For further information please see Jun’s post “The pride and prejudice of employees”)
Kanako Noji
