This thesis is submitted in partial
fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Commerce in the University of
the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. / Managers are increasingly aware that they need to leverage their company's resources in
order to deal with the challenges of the changing business world in the 90' s and the
coming millennium. The aim of this research is to evaluate how organisations are utilising
enterprise wide packaged software applications in order to achieve strategic and
transformational benefits for their organisations.
The relentless change in the business landscape has meant that organisations have needed
to respond in increasingly innovative ways to stay in business. This has been more so for
South African organisations which have now been accepted back into the world
community after years of isolation due the country's political policy of apartheid. The
watershed years of the early 1990's opened up once forbidden markets to South African
organisations and in doing so launched these organisations into a global competitive
environment. To compete effectively in these newly opened and changed markets,
companies have sought to reposition themselves. Since information technology is clearly
embedded in many of these organisations they are increasingly turning to infonnetion
technology to underpin their new businesses strategies. The relevance of the information
architecture an organisation chooses will also be explored in this research, as the flexibility
and structure of the architecture will determine what strategic options are available to the
company.
Many organisations are implementing software packages as opposed to writing their own
software to fit unique processes. This trend is strengthened by advancements on the
technological front, the disappointment of cost overruns with previously in-house written
applications, and the critical shortage of experienced IT (information technology) skills ill
the country. Business can no longer wait years for a system to be developed. The
implementation of enterprise wide packaged software applications facilitates integration
and process transformation which many organisations see as fundamental to their new
strategies to remain competitive.
This research showed that the implementation of enterprise wide packaged software
applications forces change on an organisation in that a number of domains within the
organisation are challenged. Processes need revisiting, human resources undergo a change
and teamwork is facilitated. There is a new sharing of knowledge and information within
the organisation, and such information systems are deployed rapidly and with the business
objectives firmly in place. Whilst there were strategic and transformational benefits, there
were also a number of unexpected benefits. The changes brought about by such
implementations were largely underestimated by managers within these organisations. / Andrew Chakane 2018
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/25404 |
| Date | January 1997 |
| Creators | Jackson, Sharon |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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