The difference between use and utilisation of IT - A case study of implementing an IT- induced corporate strategy

The purpose of this paper is to present empirical findings suggesting a mechanism that caused a well-managed systems development project to counteract its own strategic aim. The case study concerns a large strategically important business development project in a multinational corporation. The project was built on a vision of a ‘new’ company, utilising IT to enable some new and radically different business processes. Its aim was to change the company’s production focus into a more market-oriented focus, and to change the appearance of the company on the market through integration of its different parts. Thus aligning the competitive strength of the company with market demands. However, during the adaptation and implementation of SAP R/3, which was the technology supposed to enable the ‘new company’, the project started to drift from its strategic aims. The development process in which IT was conceived as a tool for individuals unintentionally but systematically counteracted the idea of organisational utilisation of IT that initially guided the project. As an effect the new system to large extent became a copy of the old systems. Basically resulting in an updated version of the ‘old’ company, rather than the envisioned new company.