INTERFACES
Information Technology Usage:
The Indian Experience
M P Gupta and Sanjay
Executive Summary
KEY WORDS
Information Technology
Business Strategy
Competitive Advantage
Information Architecture
Business Intelligence
VIKALPA • VOLUME 29 • NO 1 • JANUARY - MARCH 2004
presents articles focusing on managerial
applications of management practices,
theories, and concepts
This paper attempts to understand the current state of Information Technology (IT) usage
in select Indian organizations based on a questionnaire survey of business executives and
IS staff of select IT-savvy organizations. In recent years, rapid changes and developments
in the IT domain have created new leaders in the market place. Corporates, the world
over, are leveraging on these developments through efficient supply chain, inventory
control, and business intelligence applications for gaining an edge over their competi-
tors. The Information System (IS) developed by these organizations is non-replicable thus
providing the differentiation. Though Indian companies are aware of concepts such as
supply chain, inventory control, etc., the actual implementation of such concepts is not
that widespread. Also, the IS function in India is yet to establish itself as a mainstream
business function. It is in this context that this paper makes an effort to understand the
importance of IT as a key driver for business strategy and recommend to the industry to
adopt some of the best practices prevailing in organizations worldwide.
The analysis of the responses indicates that there is a discrepancy between the
opinions of business executives and IS staff regarding the adequacy of the current IT
systems. This situation can be remedied by implementing some of the suggestions which
are as follows:
• The business executives and the IS staff should be located in the same place to
integrate IT into the mainstream of business.
• Business intelligence application needs to be included in the portfolio of applications
for business use.
• The Indian industry needs to be stepped up to the ‘informate’ stage as it is still in the
‘automate’ stage.
• CIOs have to play an important role by linking IT to business strategy.
• Information needs of the executives are increasing and necessary steps for imple-
menting data warehousing and OLAP solutions need to be taken.
• Supporting IS should be put in place to facilitate decision-making.
• Key performance indicators (KPIs) should be clearly identified and incorporated into
the IS to monitor the health of the organization.
These initiatives are expected to have the following implications:

tighter integration of IT with business strategy

transformation from the ‘informate mode’ to the ‘transformate’ mode

implementation of newer business intelligence tools

development of information-based decision-making culture

better understanding of organization’s KPIs by the IS staff.
83
T
he US Society for Information Management (SIM)
has been periodically surveying its members for
the past two decades to determine the most
critical issues in Information System (IS) management
(Brancheau, Janz and Wetherbe, 1996). The various SIM
studies have had a significant influence on key issue
studies in other countries (e.g., Dekleva and Zupancic,
1996; Wang, 1994). IS key issue studies have been
conducted in Australia 1993, Canada 1995, Costa Rica
1997, Estonia 1993, Europe 1993, Guatemala 1997, the
Gulf Cooperation Council 1992, Hong Kong 1993, India
1992, Indonesia 1996, Poland 1994, the Republic of China
(Taiwan) 1990, Slovenia 1993, South Korea 1995, and the
United Kingdom 1993, and a comparative analyses of
these have been reported by Watson et al. (1997). A
website (http://www.cba.uga.edu/iris/) has been es-
tablished to report details of the various studies. Table
1 presents the ranking of the various international issues
in IS management as per the results of these studies. It
is evident from the table that IS organizational alignment
is the second most important issue for achieving higher
system usage.
Gottschalk (2000) had predicted the following key
issues emerging in the 21st century:
• improving links between information systems stra-
tegy and business strategy
• developing and implementing an information ar-
chitecture
• implementing knowledge management systems
• reducing information technology (IT) projects’ com-
pletion time and budget deviations.
An insight into the methodology deployed in the
research of these issues is available in Palvia et al. (2003).
In a survey commissioned by Compass (2000), the
international performance improvement consultancy
group, 650 CEOs of the world’s leading companies in
nine countries were asked to rate their opinions of IT’s
Table 1: International Issues in IS Management
Rank International Issues
1 Strategic planning
2 IS organizational alignment
3 Information architecture
3 Competitive advantage
3 Data as a resource
3 Human resources
3 Security and control
8 Integrating technology
9 Software development
9 IS’s role and contribution
84
current and future business value. The survey indicates
that CEOs are both disappointed and hopeful about IT’s
business impact. The study attributes three major rea-
sons for IT’s failure to meet expectations. First, the
glorious vision often does not survive to execution. The
high cost of undelivered promises is a continuing and
increasing problem. Second, even if the initiatives are
acted upon, the original improvement goal quickly gets
obscured by supplier pressure to upgrade and keep pace
with technology changes. The third and the most prom-
inent cause of dissatisfaction is the inability to measure
return on IT investments in a meaningful way.
IT is generally believed to have performed best in
the realm of improving business processes. But, in an
another survey by Luftman and Brier (1999), 33 per cent
of the executives think that IT needs to focus on
sharpening a company’s competitive edge with quicker
time-to-market and better-tuned customer interaction.
Cost reduction — especially in the financial services
sector — is a poor goal for IT because IT is often a
significant part of the overhead necessary for business
survival and is not a cost-cutting component at all. In
companies where an IT manager such as a the Chief
Information Officer (CIO) is part of the executive team,
IT is viewed as a high contributor to company’s achieve-
ments; the perception is more often the opposite at
companies without an information officer. One expla-
nation the study offers for this phenomenon is that a vast
majority of IT executives (73 %) are expected to deliver
business benefits in addition to making IT services cost-
efficient. Having no IT expertise on the executive level
deprives a company of the strategic IT planning which,
as many agree, is necessary for future business success.
Further, many of the organizations have demon-
strated competitive advantage by deploying strategic
information systems. This has created new leaders in
the market space. Those that have not leveraged using
these developments have either perished or are strug-
gling for survival. All over the globe, corporations have
leveraged on IT to beat competition through efficient
supply chain, inventory control, and finances and busi-
ness intelligence applications for decision-making. The
IS developed by a corporation is non-replicable thus
providing the differentiation.
In the Indian scenario, though the corporates are
aware of these concepts, the actual implementation is
not that widespread. Also, the IS staff in India are
struggling to establish IT as a mainstream business
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY USAGE: AN INDIAN EXPERIENCE
function. This study is an effort to establish the impor- From the performance point of view, IT enables
tance of IT as a key driver for business strategy and overall improvements in coordination, improves effi-
recommend to the industry to adopt the best practices ciency of operations, and provides organizations with
prevailing in organizations worldwide. a competitive advantage. The study by Kanungo (1998)
The objective of this paper is to study the usage level indicates that the use of IT may produce the desired
of IT from a theoretical perspective with a deeper organizational results depending on the geographical,
understanding of the business needs and practical economic, cultural, and psychological context. Garrity
implications. The paper also attempts to reflect on the and Sanders (1998) identified the factors for IS success
theoretical concepts involved which lead to the align- as follows: system usage, user satisfaction, and perform-
ment of IT strategy with business and, drawing on the ance. So far, user satisfaction and system usage have
lessons from this study, makes suggestions to the Indian been used most extensively to measure information
industry so that a better approach can be developed. system effectiveness. System usage has been recom-
There have been various issues both from the business mended as an indicator of system success. We carry out
domain as well as the information technology domain a further investigation of the above issues through a
which have hindered the true synergy between the two questionnaire survey of business executives and IS staff.
domains. These issues and the rifts have been instru- Our main concern is to find out the interdependence
mental in the selection of this topic. between the stage of IT use and IS satisfaction.
The specific issues raised to business executives and
PHASES OF IT USAGE to IS staff in our survey are given in Table 2. A
The attitude towards IT and its benefits have evolved description of the research design is given in the Box.
steadily over the past few decades. This can be described IT Usage and Satisfaction
in three phases which coincide with three levels of IT
applications, viz., automate, informate, and transformate The executives believe that IT is one area which can
(Schein, 1994) (Figure 1). provide them with the required edge over competition.
The automate phase refers to that period which sees However, their satisfaction with IS systems in their
the development of those applications of IT that serve organization is on the lower side as only one-third are
essentially to reduce operating time (work faster) and satisfied. This shows that there is an unmet need for
increase operating efficiency (make fewer mistakes). In information. Again, the executives feel that required
this phase, there is a strong emphasis on reducing the information is not available to them which implies that
manual aspects of clerical, routine, and tedious work. either the current requirement is different from IS
In the informate phase, IT is used to generate and deliver applications or the applications have outlived their use.
extensive management reports and decision support According to them, the hardware is sufficient for the
systems (DSS). The transformate phase (post-mid-1970s
Table 2: Specific Issues Addressed by Business
era) traces the development of strategic IT for compet-
Executives and IS Staff
itive advantage.
Business Executives IS Staff
Figure 1: Stage of IT Usage
IS satisfaction
Member of planning sessions

Information accessibility
Top management sponsorship
Time
Query response time
Change requests

Basis for decision
Management requirement

Information format satisfaction

Latest information
Hybrid data sources
Transformate
Accuracy of information
Data integration problem

Flexibility in reporting
Data integration packages
Informate
Information sharing
Flexibility in reporting

Interactive reporting
Information sharing

Online Transaction
Interactive reporting
Automate
Processing (OLTP)
Data warehouse or data mart
awareness
Online Analytical Processing

Automatic information (OLAP) awareness
delivery
Quick IS modification

Customized content
Identification of key
Levels of IT Applications

Adequate computing skills performance indicators (KPIs)

VIKALPA • VOLUME 29 • NO 1 • JANUARY - MARCH 2004 85

Box: Research Design
We designed a questionnaire keeping in view the Indian industry and its concerns. The main objective was to study the usage
level of IT and establish the status of the current alignment in the organization. In addition, we intended to establish the issues
from two perspectives which highlighted the difference of opinion, if any. Also, the questions attempted to gauge the current level
of business intelligence applications and technologies currently being used in the organization. We aimed to understand the nature
of the currently used applications in the organization both in terms of technology and functionality. A variable like presentation of
information has been given importance so as to understand the pull or push mechanisms being implemented.
The scope of the survey was limited to select Indian IT-savvy organizations that are in the second stage of IT evolution which
already have their transaction processing systems in place. The organizations where the online transaction processing systems (OLTP)
are not in place are not suitable for business intelligence applications as, in such organizations, relevant database is not available
for analysis. The following organizations were selected for the study: Amway, iFlex, McKinsey, Airtel, Eknow Ventures (now Symphony
Services), GSKB, Stanchart-ANZ, Hutchinson, TISCO, NIC, Ranbaxy, Oriental Insurance, NDTV, ICICI, and Ravissant. These organizations
are known to use high-end IT as they exist in a competitive domain and face competition from a deregulated environment. The
choice was consciously made to obtain a definite conclusion; inclusion of laggards of information technology users would have distorted
the analysis.
The questionnaire design was put to repeat iterations based on inputs from the pre-tests so that it was easier for the subjects
to understand the questions properly. This was done to capture a more accurate picture by reducing ambiguity. As a result, the
answers were restricted to ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ only. After quite a few iterations and test responses, it was decided that two sets of
questionnaires should be developed, one for the users or business executives and the other for the IS staff. This was done to
understand divergent viewpoints.
Data were collected with simple affirmative and non-affirmative options. Also enriching the answers were the subjective interviews
that clarified the ambiguity in the questionnaire, if any. The total useful responses were 115.
The three phases — pre-test, pilot test, and analysis of data — tested the reliability and validity of the data. Reliability was
assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. High values of Cronbach’s alpha indicated high internal consistency of the multiple items measuring
each construct, thereby indicating high reliability of the individual construct. The reliability coefficients were more than the cut-off
value of 0.6 that is recommended as acceptable for empirical research of similar nature. Construct validity is concerned with the
relationship between a theoretical model and the observations made by the researcher. This is particularly relevant in this research
where the discussion of theoretical models and themes identified from the questionnaire form the main part of the results. If the
discussion of these theoretical concepts bears little relevance to the factual realities observed in the field, the findings of the research
will be invalid and void. In this respect, the validity has not been statistically evaluated. Therefore, we approached two experts in
a research organization and sought their opinion on the questionnaire’s rationale and overall validity. The respective interviewees
confirmed that analysis and descriptions were correct in the relevant portions of the research. This ensured that what was stated
in the research was factual and accurate.

current requirements and size of data handled. This
indicates that the volume of data analysed is low where
DSS type applications are not present. Finally, they feel
that the decisions are still based on non-quantitative
foundation and previous decisions and their outcomes
are leveraged in future indicating an absence of business
intelligence application infrastructure (Table 3).
Table 4 indicates that the format of reports pro-
vided is not available as per the requirements in majority
of the responses which restricts an easy interpretation
of information. Also, functionality for customization is
missing. According to majority of the respondents,
current or updated information is available implying
that whatever is recorded electronically is available but
it also indicates that very less quantity of data might be
available online and that there is no summarization of
data. Information accuracy is found to be high by most
of the respondents, thus suggesting that sources of data
are being correctly identified. This is critical as decision-
making based on this information assumes reliability of
information. There is no flexibility in accessing the
information using various mediums like Internet, In-
tranet, wireless, etc. This also removes the option of
retrieving information as and when required including
mobile devices.
In absence of applications to the level of supporting
decision-making, vast amount of learning that is usually
available go unrecorded that otherwise could have found
useful feedback in recurring decision situation. This
does not allow an organization to leverage on prior

Table 3: IS Satisfaction, Information Accessibility,

Response Time, and Basis for Decision Table 4: Information Format, Latest Information,
Accuracy of Information, and Flexibility in
Issues Yes (%) Reporting
Are you satisfied with the IS available in
your organization? 33 Issues Yes (%)
Are you able to access the required information? 20 Is the format of information provided suitable? 13
Is the response time for queries satisfactory? 60 Are you able to access the current/latest information? 53
Are most of your decisions based on data, information Is information provided reliable and accurate? 87
or analysis already available? 13 Does IS provide flexibility in reporting and medium? 7

86 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY USAGE: AN INDIAN EXPERIENCE

decisions. This is evident from Table 5. Some amount
of interactivity is present in the IS, which allows the user
to further navigate into the information source as re-
quired. This interactivity also narrows down the scope
of information to be analysed and keeps it within
controllable limits.
The professionals are aware of the availability and
usage of the latest technologies in the business intelli-
gence domain. Technologies like Online Analytical Pro-
cessing (OLAP) provide interactive reporting and drill
down mechanism for information retrieval. Push mech-
anism is missing for automatic distribution of informa-
tion in all the responses. This necessitates the feeding
of information on an automatic basis which would make
the business executives more informed without making
any effort for pulling the information. The results reveal
the lack of flexibility in IS applications as they fail to
support customized reporting as per the business exec-
utive’s requirement. Skills availability is not an issue for
the organization which implies that reduced amount of
training is required and the benefits of the technology
are already known. This also makes the adoption of
technology much easier.
Adequacy of IT and IS Systems
The IS staff respondents have exceptional technical
knowledge and wide experience, both local and global.
They are aware of the global best practices prevalent for
the respective industrial domains. These professionals
utilize their expertise in information technology by
selecting the best technology and vendor suitable for
their organization.
From the results of the analysis, it is evident that
the participation of IS staff in planning sessions is
prevalent but the score is still below the required level.
This allows the IS staff to create a bigger picture about
Table 5: Information Sharing, Interactive Reporting,
OLAP Awareness, Automatic Information
Delivery, Customized Content, and Adequate
Computing Skills
Issues Yes (%)
Does the IS allow you to record your 7
information for sharing?
Are your IS interactive in nature? 47
Are you aware of OLAP? 93
Does relevant information get delivered 0 Does integration of various data sources
to you automatically?
Are you able to customize the content 0 Do you make use of products/packages
delivered to your requirements?
Do you have adequate usage skills on computers? 87
VIKALPA • VOLUME 29 • NO 1 • JANUARY - MARCH 2004
the organization in their mind and makes it easier for
them to be aligned with the business. Top management
sponsorship is available for less than half of the respond-
ents — indicating that the relevance of IT systems is yet
to be established in the organization. Though a diverse
list of concerns has been highlighted, one of the major
concerns of the IS staff has been their low credibility
perceived by the business executives. This leads to the
conclusion that the organizational mindset is still not
mature enough to realize the importance of IT (Table 6).
Table 6 also indicates that there is an unfulfilled
need for information from the executives which the
current systems are not able to provide. This requires
upgradation of the current systems. Surprisingly, the IS
staff believe that the current systems are suitable for the
requirements of the management. This definitely is an
issue that needs to be resolved so that both the opinions
are in resonance.
The results presented in Table 7 indicate that, over
time, the organization has accumulated data in various
formats and are available in various operating plat-
forms. The presence of hybrid data environment is a
problem and the current systems are inadequate to
handle it. A few of the respondents make use of data
integration packages for compilation of data from hy-
brid environments. This would allow the IS staff to
respond to the change requirements easily and would
also allow the inclusion of most of the data resources
Table 6: Member of Planning Sessions, Top Manage-
ment Sponsorship, Change Requests, and
Management Requirement Satisfaction
Issues Yes (%)
Are you a member of organization 47
strategy and planning sessions?
Is there a top management sponsorship for 47
your initiatives?
Do you come across frequent requests for
specific information not already available in the IS? 0
Are your IS satisfying the requirements of
87
the management?
Table 7: Hybrid Data Sources, Data Integration Problem,
Data Integration Packages, and Flexibility in
Reporting
Issues Yes (%)
Do you encounter hybrid data sources 100
and platforms in your organization?
100
and systems pose a problem?
47
for data integration?
Does the IS provide flexibility in reporting and medium? 73
87
in the organization as well as external sources of data.
From the perspective of IS respondents, the current
applications are providing a flexible reporting mecha-
nism, a view not shared by the business executives. This
would include various mediums with which the user is
comfortable.
Further, it is clear from Table 8 that applications
have not been upgraded to the level of the available
technology where knowledge sharing is built into the
applications for future use. As a result, leveraging on
an already made analysis is not possible and efforts are
duplicated. Interactive applications are still not widely
available according to the responses as per IS personnel
which implies that technologies like OLAP have not
been widely implemented in the organization and there
is a need for improvement.
The response indicates that awareness of central-
ized data repository concepts is prevalent though not
widely available. All the respondents are aware of the
multi-dimensional database technology though it might
not be used in the organization. This indicates the
maturity of the IS personnel to keep up with the
technology available in the industry. This also shows
that the tools available with the IS personnel are not
adequate to handle the new requirements of the business
executives. The table further indicates that the applica-
tions are developed using conventional methodologies
which require great effort for modification. Surprisingly,
only a few organizations have identified KPIs or critical
success factors (CSFs) which allow the management to
monitor the health of the organization.
MANAGERIAL CONCERNS AND
IMPLICATIONS
The business executives understand the benefits achieved
through the use of effective IT implementation but feel
Table 8: Information Sharing, Interactive Reporting, Data
Warehouse, OLAP Awareness, Quick IS
Modification, and Identification of KPI
Issues Yes (%)
Does the IS allow you to record 7
your information for sharing?
Is your IS interactive in nature? 53
Have you implemented a data warehouse or data mart? 47
Are you aware of OLAP? 100
Are you able to customize the content 7 • The current level of business intelligence applications
delivered to your requirements?
Have the organization KPIs been identified 27
and embedded in your organization?
88
that they do not have access to the desired applications.
The concerns expressed in the survey also include the
absence of customization or reports and the choice of
medium. This has been taken as a problem of rigidity
in the application domain. A necessary functionality like
sharing of the already analysed information with col-
leagues in the organization is not provided. These
features in the applications would enable the creation
of knowledge sharing environment and save precious
time and effort for future analysis. Leveraging on al-
ready performed analysis besides saving time and effort
would also provide an environment for further improve-
ment of the analysis and thus result in continuous
improvement over time.
The IS staff feel that there are concerns in the
technology space that have not been addressed. These
concerns include implementation of data integration
tools and flexibility of various reporting mechanisms.
Also, their awareness is in tune with the worldwide
developments but they have expressed their concern
regarding the absence of such awareness. There is a
discrepancy between the opinions of IS staff and that
of the business executives regarding the adequacy of the
current IT systems. The IS staff are of the opinion that
the current level of technology is adequate for their
requirements while the business executives feel that
there is still scope for improving the level of applica-
tions. Also, according to the business executives, there
is rigidity in the delivery of information which should
be removed both in the format and medium of delivery.
The IS staff recognize the importance of enterprise data
as a resource and also the competitive advantage it can
provide to the organization. However, they are con-
strained in providing functionality due to lack of stand-
ard tools in the business intelligence domain. The
business executives attribute this lack of functionality
to lack of IS capability in the organization. Also, the
results indicate that the issues are more a function of
situation rather than that of the professionals or actors
involved. If the issues are understood well, then the
situation can be certainly improved by implementing
some of the recommendations which are as follows:
• The IS staff and the executive cadre should be
located in the same place so as to integrate IT into
the mainstream of business.
is low in the organizations; this needs to be included
in the portfolio of applications for business use.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY USAGE: AN INDIAN EXPERIENCE
• The Indian industry is still in the ‘automate’ stage
though some initiatives have been taken to take it
up to the ‘informate’ stage.
• CIOs have an important role to play by being skilled
in IT domain and also being a part of the business
strategy team.
• Information needs of the executives are increasing
and, therefore, necessary steps like implementing
data warehousing and OLAP solutions need to be
taken.
• Decision-making within the executive domain is
still not data-and information-based due to lack of
supporting IS and these should be put into place.
• KPIs linked to the objectives and goals of the
organization need to be clearly identified and in-
corporated into the IS so as to monitor the health
of the organization at all times.
Some of the issues and concerns that could be
addressed to drive the change in a positive direction
include training needs of the IS users, users’ capabilities
to handle IS effectively, and conflicts of authority. The
issues of managerial concern include authority and
control over the IS, budgeting, and performance (ROI).
The organizational issues, particularly business process
redesign, effect on organizational efficiency, and com-
petitive advantage gained through IS, become important
when organizations move from ‘automate’ to ‘infor-
mate’ stage. IS quality, IT obsolescence, and the rapid
absorption of IT are the technical concerns which cannot
be ensured unless there is an appropriate information
architecture for the organization. IT infrastructure, in
general, has been traditionally weak and continues to
be a weak area. The development of information archi-
tecture requires a high degree of time and resource
commitment in terms of business process analysis,
organizational information, structure specification, de-
veloping an IS/IT strategy, and a plan to prioritize and
schedule application portfolio management. In the
absence of information architecture, organizations con-
tinually chase moving IT targets by focusing more on
hardware and software issues. Unfortunately, top man-
agement in Indian organizations tends to emphasize
short-term benefits and realize the importance of long-
term benefits that directly accrue out of having infor-
mation architecture in place. There are a very few
organizations which have a strategic IT plan and an
appropriate information architecture. This deprives the
necessary ‘organizational insight’ across the manage-
VIKALPA • VOLUME 29 • NO 1 • JANUARY - MARCH 2004
ment that could help organizations bootstrap such an
activity. It becomes too late by the time the management
realizes that ‘system integration is one of the key areas.’
Lack of vendor support has remained a key concern
while software development does not come cheap for
the user organizations. Software quality would remain
a question mark in the absence of adequate information
architecture. Hardware support is relatively poor owing
to the high frequency of breakdowns or failures. Unre-
liable electrical power supply and excessive dust in the
environment lead to far more disruption than is normal-
ly experienced in industrialized countries. Maintenance
organizations charge heavily. While software vendors
almost always claim to be customized solution provid-
ers, re-sellers of packaged software have not been able
to provide value-added services to users of packages.
This leads to many additional responsibilities falling on
the in-house technical group.
Structurally and culturally, IS has been treated as
separate from the domain of senior management. The
IT managers are accountable to top management but
they have yet to play a significant role in strategy
formulation. There remains a definite disagreement
between them over priorities of IS in organization. In
general, IS users have not been able to carve out a
meaningful role for themselves in IT-related organiza-
tional processes. This has led to inadequacy in attention
and non-alignment with the overall business strategy.
Indian organizations are not keeping themselves abreast
of the latest trends in technology and are, therefore, late
adopters and slow on the learning curve. This deprives
them of the opportunity to realize the true potential of
IT in strategic IS. The increasing IT manpower turnover
has complicated matters further.
Some of the implications of these initiatives are
expected to be as follows:
• Tighter integration of IT with business strategy:
This would enable the IS staff to feel that they are
part of the mainstream function and would have a
participative role in improving the organization.
• Transformation from the ‘informate’ mode to
‘transformate’ mode: The ‘informate’ stage builds
on the infrastructure of business intelligence appli-
cations and systems and when they are actually
used for decision-making would result in the trans-
formation of the organization.
• Implementation of newer business intelligence tools:
Further improvement in these applications can be
89
 made by incorporating high-end technologies like
data mining which support the current systems like
data warehousing and OLAP.
• Development of information-based decision mak-
ing culture: Soft skills like high acceptability of
information-based decision-making would develop
a suitable culture in the organization where infor-
mation sharing is truly practised.
• Better understanding of organization’s KPIs by the
IS staff: An organization’s KPIs are pre-requisites
for monitoring the organization. This would allow
monitoring the health of the organization at all
times.
The study can be further extended along many lines.
A sector-based analysis of the study can be undertaken
as there are differences in IT usage across industries. The
sample size can be improved by adding more organi-
zations. There has to be an adequate presence of the not
so IT-savvy organizations. The observations described
here are specific to the Indian industry and would help
in improving the situation with reference to IT usage and
alignment. The ultimate objective is to improve the
efficiency of the organization and create harmony be-
tween the two functions within an organization.
CONCLUSION
The issues of IT usage in India are similar to those of
organizations worldwide but some of them are specific
as the penetration of IT and its adoption in India have
been slow. The issues are credibility with business
executives, difficulty in measuring ROI, lack of business
intelligence applications, strategic planning, IS organi-
zation alignment, and data as a resource and integrating
technology. The Indian industry, despite being a leading
software exporter, has been slow in adopting IT. It is
difficult to understand the dichotomy of the situation
where we develop business intelligence applications for
the world but fail to take note of their potential for
domestic use. We still have to understand the competi-
tive advantage our data resources can provide us with.
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90
While the rest of the world has ended the debate on
relevance of IT, we are still trying to establish IT as a
critical functional area. Our IS staff still need to make
decisions on ROI measures whereas these measures are
not being given that much importance elsewhere due to
the problem of using this measurement criterion. Our
analysis indicates that there is a wide gap between the
perceptions of the business executives and the IS per-
sonnel within the same organization. The requirements
of the executives have changed over time but the
applications have not been upgraded to keep pace. The
distribution of information is still in a pull mode and
reports are delivered based on requirements. There is
no push mechanism wherein the reports are delivered
automatically to the executives whenever necessary
information gets collected. The medium of delivery of
information is very restricted and does not involve
highly used mediums like the Internet/Intranet or the
wireless devices. The IS staff are still not tightly inte-
grated into the mainstream business activity and are
sidelined when it comes to planning sessions. Also, top
management sponsorship is not satisfactory which re-
sults in the apprehension of the benefits of IS function.
The Indian business scenario has still not implemented
applications in business intelligence domain and thus
decision support systems are rare. The overall satisfac-
tion level of the executives is low and the applications
available have not matured enough. A few implementable
suggestions are as follows:
• The availability of sponsors for strategic applica-
tions should be made mandatory to achieve the
required end results.
• There is a need to create adequate awareness of the
larger benefits of these initiatives to provide the
‘bigger picture’ to all users and supporters.
• The availability of skilled resources in this domain
is always a challenge and requires additional effort
for the success of these initiatives.
• The practical aspects of desirability and feasibility
should be tackled with caution.
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Acknowledgement • The authors are grateful to Prof Shivraj
Kanungo (George Washington University) for his useful
suggestions.
M P Gupta is Associate Professor of IT at the Department of
Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi.
His research interests are in the areas of IS/ IT planning, e-business
and e-governance. He has authored Government Online and
edited two others entitled Towards E-Government and Promise of
E-Governance, published by Tata Mc-Graw Hill. His research
papers have appeared in national and international journals and
The turning points of lives are not the great moments.
The real crisis are often concealed in occurrences so trivial
in appearance that they pass unobserved.
VIKALPA • VOLUME 29 • NO 1 • JANUARY - MARCH 2004
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Conference Proceedings. He was the recipient of the prestigious
Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) fellowship of Shastri Indo-
Canadian Institute, Calgary (Canada) in the year 1995-96.
e-mail: mpgupta@dms.iitd.ernet.in
Sanjay holds an MBA from IIT, Delhi. Earlier, he has worked with
SAS and IBM as Business Intelligence Consultant. Presently, he is
a Lead Business Intelligence Consultant at Fidelity Investments,
New Delhi.
e-mail: sanjayji@iitiim.com
George Washington
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