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Hospitality Leadership Through Learning
Faculty & Research

Information System Design: A Systematic Way to Analyze IT in Your Business

Vol 5 No 5
By: Erica L. Wagner Ph.D., Gabriele Piccoli Ph.D. and Sharon Louthen

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Executive Summary: Information technology investments must be thought of in terms of a firm's overall information system. This report explains and illustrates two frameworks that emphasize the role of IT as a fundamental component of organizational information systems, namely, the socio-technical model of information systems (STM of IS) and the information systems cycle. The STM integrates all internal and external factors that bear on the design, implementation, operation, and eventual success of an IT initiative. Using this model requires an analysis of the following factors: the IT hardware and software itself, the people with direct involvement in the information system, the process that those people follow in completing a business activity, and the business's structure, including its organizational design and formal and informal reporting relationships. All of those internal factors and their interactions are cast against the broader context of influences that enable or constrain the business's opportunities. To illustrate the STM, the report examines the case of Nestlé USA's implementation of an enterprise resource planning system. The second framework, the IS cycle, models the business's use of information systems over time, including routine operations and change initiatives. The model's basic concept is that today's information is a valuable asset that, appropriately managed by way of information-system initiatives, can create tomorrow's business opportunities. In illustrating this model the report presents the case of Harrah's Entertainment. By focusing on customers' use of a business intelligence program, Harrah's was first able to determine who were its best customers (surprisingly, not high rollers), and then devise ways to encourage those good customers to become even better customers while increasing the ranks of the profitable customers through an attentive attraction strategy. The concluding insights for management, which are illustrated by hypothetical situations, should help guide the design, development, management, and use of organizational information systems. In particular, it's worth noting that IT initiatives cannot precede organization change (although implementing an IT system will undoubtedly affect the entire business), one does not always need to purchase the "best" or most recent technology, and information systems are constantly evolving as a business changes.

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About Erica L. Wagner Ph.D.

A social scientist with IT expertise, Erica Wagner specializes in the study of how newly introduced information technology is "made to work" within organizations. Professor Wagner uses qualitative field research techniques to understand the patterns of action, stakeholder behaviors, and systemic interactions that reveal the issues of strategy, negotiation and power present whenever major technological change occurs within an organization. She is particularly interested in how new technology can be accepted within organizations even when it is perceived as problematic, and the role played by the "best practices" concept and has published widely in both scholarly and applied outlets. Professor Wagner teaches the required IS course as well as a database design elective at the School and uses a critical thinking framework for presenting course content and evaluating student learning. Her IS Ethics Debate and Vision Essay assignments have received University-wide recognition for their innovative approaches to assessing student learning.

For more information visit http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/research/facultybios/faculty.html?id=103

About Gabriele Piccoli Ph.D.

Gabriele Piccoli is assistant professor of Information Systems at the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University. His primary research, teaching and consulting expertise is in the strategic application of information systems, customer service systems, and the use of IT to create and appropriate economic value in hospitality ventures. He also has expertise in the internal application of IT, such as in eLearning and computer based training, and the management of virtual teams.

Gabe writes extensively for practicing audiences and is the current editor of the Cutter Benchmark Review, a monthly publication addressing the hottest issues in IT management. His applied research has appeared in many of the leading hospitality and business publications, such as the Cornell Hospitality Quarterly and the Harvard Business Review. Through Harvard Business School Publishing and the Communications of the AIS Gabe has published several widely used case studies on information management and the use of IT in hospitality firms. His academic research has been published in the top Information Systems journals, including the MIS Quarterly, the Communications of the ACM, Decision Sciences Journal, and many others. He serves on the editorial board of the Cornell Hospitality Quarterly and Decision Sciences Journal.

For more information visit http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/industry/executive/pdp/about/faculty-desc.html?id=1133&event=PDP085HIM