This 7 page paper looks at a case study supplied by the student. Digital is a company that is reviewing its information system (IS) policies and practice. The paper answers five questions regarding the advantages of centralized and decentralized IS departments, the need for IS structure to support corporate structure, drivers for change, business process reengineering and problem of culture in business systems implemented in Europe. The bibliography cites 4 sources.
Name of Research Paper File: TS14_TEdigital.rtf
Buy This Research Paper »
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
to both, which may be seen as conflicting when seeking to gain a balance. If we look at each independently these may be appreciated. Centralisation has an immediate benefit of
direct and total control. Where all IS functions are centralised this means there is a single control point where all IS is obtained and as such issues such as standardisation
are automatic as they are required at only a single point. In an organisation this will have benefits for a number of independent business units that interact. Where IS policy
and standards are centrally dictated this means all units will need to meet those standards, making the units able to interact with each other. If this central control is hot
see, then IS is highly likely different systems will be chosen by the different units to meet their own needs, with compatibility to main system or corporate systems being only
a secondary consideration. This also indicate a different type of control. If there is centralised IS in place this may also make the monitoring and control of the business
units easier, with a company wide single system tat can take different data in and create unified accounts or reports, as seen with tools such as the balanced score card.
If there is the need to change adapt or upgrade the systems this may be a difficult job, but it is also easier to coordinate the changes so that
the entire company sees the changes together rather than seeing older systems clash with newer systems during a change over period. The advantages are not only those of control.
Where there is an ability to undertake a large amount of processing at a single point, rather than smaller amounts at smaller locations there is the potential for economies of
Back to Research Paper Results