Examining the Strategic Benefits of Information Systems: a Global Case Study

In the context of the emerging evaluation of Information Systems (IS) as strategic enablers, this paper critically reviews the literature relating to the strategic benefits of IS. Understanding the importance of IS benefits can be significant in the development of strategy in an organisation, although most organisations have diverse environments and, likewise, diverse benefits for decision-makers. Thus, taxonomies of the benefits of IS are produced from both the academic literature and published case studies. In this way, a classification of benefits as they relate to organisational strategic focus has been developed to provide a greater understanding of the benefits needed to obtain a specific focus. The result of this paper is a taxonomy of IS benefits in the strategic focus of IS, using Y bank as a case study. This categorisation can support the evaluation of IS processes, which will, in turn, support decision-makers throughout the planning process.