Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Future ICT systems — understanding the business drivers

  • Published:
BT Technology Journal

Abstract

IT or ICT systems have been widely adopted by companies and are now part of the basic infrastructure of most organisations. ICT systems are evolving in response to both commercial and technical changes. This paper outlines some of the drivers for this continuing change, and discusses how these drivers may influence future evolution. The paper first discusses current trends and drivers, and then identifies a number of assumptions underlying current approaches to ICT system design. Criticism of these assumptions opens up new ways of thinking about the way ICT systems are designed and used, with implications for their future development.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Carr N G: ‘IT Doesn’t Matter’, Harvard Business Review (May 2003).

  2. Appel A M, Dhadwal A and Pietraszek W E: ‘More Bang for the IT Buck’, The McKinsey Quarterly, No 2 (2003) — http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/

  3. Bloomberg, Bureau van Dijk: ‘IT Spending and Staffing Survey Results’, Gartner (2001).

  4. Potter J M M and Brady A: ‘Strategic changes and frameworks affecting BT’s OSS/BSS for the next century’, BT Technol J, 23, No3, pp 30–44 (July 2005).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Lyons M H, Ellis R, Potter M, Holm D and Venousiou R: ‘The socio-economic impact of pervasive computing-intelligent spaces and the organisation of business’, BT Technol J, 22, No3, pp 27–38 (July 2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Datamonitor: ‘ERP to CRM: Is CRM the future for the ERP giants?, (2001).

  7. Kishore R and McLean E R: ‘The Next generation Enterprise: A CIO perspective on the vision, its impacts, and implementation challenges’, Information Systems Frontiers, 4, No1, pp 121–138 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Brynjolfsson E: ‘The IT Productivity Gap’, Optimize magazine, Issue 21 (July 2003) — http://ebusiness.mit.edu/erik/Optimize/pr_roi.html

  9. Ellison L: quoted in Carr N G: ‘IT Doesn’t Matter’, Harvard Business Review, pp 5–12 (May 2003).

  10. Ebner M, Hu A, Levitt D and McCrory J: ‘How to Rescue CRM’, The McKinsey Quarterly, No 4 (2002) — http://www.mckinsey quarterly.com/

  11. IDC International Data Corporation: ‘Demand-Side Survey: A Reality Check on CRM Software, a 2001 study of 300 companies’, (2001).

  12. Kanakamedala K, Ramsdell G and Srivatsan V: ‘Getting Supply Chain Software Right’, The McKinsey Quarterly, No 1 (2003) — http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/

  13. Tapscott D, Ticoll D and Lowy A: ‘Digital Capital, Harnessing the Power of Business Webs’, Nicolas Brealey, UK (2000).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Kaplan J M, Markus L and Roberts R P: ‘Managing Next Generation IT infrastructure’, McKinsey Quarterly (February 2005) — http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/

  15. Pidd M: ‘Tools for Thinking’, Wiley, Chichester (2003).

    Google Scholar 

  16. Mintzberg H: ‘The rise and fall of strategic planning’, The Free Press, New York (1994).

    Google Scholar 

  17. Stacey R D: ‘Strategic Management and Organisational Dynamics’, (3rd Edition) Prentice-Hall (2000).

  18. Checkland P: ‘Systems Thinking, Systems Practice’, John Wiley, Chichester (1981).

    Google Scholar 

  19. Senge P: ‘The Fifth Discipline’, Doubleday (1990).

  20. Rittel H W J and Webber M M: ‘Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning’, Policy Sciences, 4, 155–69 (1973).

    Google Scholar 

  21. Simon H: ‘Administrative Behaviour’, 4th Edition, The Free Press, New York (1997).

    Google Scholar 

  22. Spender J C: ‘Exploring uncertainty and emotion in the knowledge-based theory of the firm’, InformationTechnology and People, 13, No3, pp 266–288 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Hammond J S, Keeney R L and Raiffa H: ‘The Hidden traps in Decision Making’, Harvard Business Review, pp 3–9 (September–October 1998).

  24. Mezias J M and Starbuck W H: ‘What Do Managers Know, Anyway?’, Harvard Business Review, Reprint F0305A (2003).

  25. Sutcliffe K M and Weber K: ‘The High Cost of Accurate Knowledge’, Harvard Business Review (May 2003).

  26. Weick K E: ‘Sensemaking in Organisations’, Sage Publications, London (1995).

    Google Scholar 

  27. Checkland P and Holwell S: ‘Information, Systems and Information Systems: Making Sense of the Field’, Wiley, Chichester, Chapter 3 (1998).

    Google Scholar 

  28. Simon H: ‘The New Science of Management Decision’, Harper and Row, New York (1960).

    Google Scholar 

  29. Stacey R D: ‘Complex responsive processes in organizations: learning and knowledge creation’, Routledge (2001).

  30. Introna L D: ‘Management, Information and Power’, Macmillan, London (1997).

    Google Scholar 

  31. Lyons M H: ‘Insights from Complexity: Organisational Change and Systems Modelling’, Chapter 2 in Pidd M (Ed): ‘Systems Modelling: theory and practice’, John Wiley, Chichester (2004).

    Google Scholar 

  32. Kaplan R S and Norton D P: ‘The Balanced Scorecard: Translating strategy into action’, Harvard Business School Press, Boston (1996).

    Google Scholar 

  33. Head S: ‘The New Ruthless Economy: Work and power in the digital age’, Oxford University Press, Oxford (2003).

    Google Scholar 

  34. Kay J: ‘The Foundations of Corporate Success’, Oxford University Press (1993).

  35. Pascale R T, Millemann M and Gioja L: ‘Surfing on the Edge of Chaos’, Texere, London/NY (2000).

    Google Scholar 

  36. Lewin R and Regine B: ‘The Soul at Work: Unleashing the Power of Complexity Theory for Business Success’, Texere Publishing (1999).

  37. Putnam R D: ‘Bowling Alone’, Simon and Schuster (2000).

  38. Smith M J et al: ‘Electronic performance monitoring and job stress in telecommunications jobs’, University of Wisconsin — Madison Dept Industrial Engineering and Communications Workers of America (1990).

  39. Nelson R R and Winter S G: ‘An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change’, Belknap, Cambridge, Mass (1982).

    Google Scholar 

  40. McKelvey B: ‘Organizational Systematics’, University of California Press, CA (1982).

    Google Scholar 

  41. McKelvey B: ‘Evolution and Organizational Science’, in Baum J and Singh J (Eds): ‘Evolutionary Dynamics of Organizations’, Oxford University Press, pp 314–326 (1994).

  42. McCarthy I: ‘Manufacturing Classifications: lessons from organisational systematics and biological taxonomy’, Journal of Manufacturing and Technology Management — Integrated Manufacturing Systems, 6, No6, pp 37–49 (1995).

    Google Scholar 

  43. McCarthy I, Leseure M, Ridgeway K and Fieller N: ‘Building a Manufacturing Cladogram’, International Journal of Technology Management, 13, No3, pp 2269–2296 (1997).

    Google Scholar 

  44. Brynjolfsson E, Renshaw A A and van Alstyne M: ‘The Matrix of Change: A Tool for Business Process Reengineering’, (1997) — http://ccs.mit.edu/papers/CCSWP189/CCSWP189.html

  45. Huy Q N: ‘In praise of middle managers’, Harvard Business Review, pp 72–79 (September 2001).

Download references

Authors
  1. M. H. Lyons
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

About this article

Cite this article

Lyons, M.H. Future ICT systems — understanding the business drivers. BT Technol J 23, 11–23 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10550-005-0026-1

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10550-005-0026-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation