This research report examines the effect of the customer orientation of an Information Systems (IS) department on its performance. Customer orientation has been cited as a contributor to and determinant of organisational performance in marketing literature. This study determined that this is applicable to the IS context. Customer orientation literature from the marketing context was examined and customer orientation measures from marketing adapted for the IS context. The key dimensions of customer orientation from marketing literature are communication, understanding, service delivery, service systems, skills, innovation, alignment and leadership support. Through a study of 98 South African organisations, this study found that there is a direct relationship between the customer orientation of IS departments and IS department performance. This study contributes towards encouraging customer orientation in IS departments and bringing to the forefront the value of customer orientation in Information Systems management.

Strategic decision makers typically use a wide range of communication and information media in complex, uncertain and often ambiguous or politically charged organizational contexts. However, little help is available in ensuring that their information behaviour is efficient and effective. This study evaluates the use of information systems (IS) as communication media in strategic decision-making processes (SDMPs), focusing on strategic information processing, and how context affects its performance. The analysed strategic decisions (n = 113) were taken in the time period between 2000 and 2008 in large Western organisations. The aim of this investigation was to look at the link between the use of IS during the decision-making process and the performance of the SDMP, taking into account internal and external contextual factors. Using existing information processing theory and research on the SDMP as a theoretical basis, hypotheses were developed and environmental contingencies and political information behaviour were selected as moderating effects on the relationship of IS use and the performance of strategic decisions. A survey and complementary semi-structured interviews were conducted, which studied particular strategic decisions through quantitative and qualitative methods. Results provide support for a number of the study's hypotheses; however, several interesting findings regarding contextual factors, such as information anarchy and environmental munificence/hostility, do not support the hypotheses. Implications for theory and practice concerning information behaviour and its context are discussed.