Barriers in IS/IT implementation

Assignment # 5 - MIS

Based on your adopted orgnaization(s), identify and discuss barriers in their IS/IT implementation ..(2000words)

The first company that I took reference about this assignment was the DOLE Philippines where my group mates in the “sharing activity” interviewed one of their MIS programmers. Ford Davao was also one the companies that I considered as my reference where we interviewed their IT supervisor about this topic. I also interviewed the MIS officer of the Wilcon Builder’s Supply ( our adopted company for the major paper ) about this assignment.

According to Encarta dictionary, a barrier is something that obstructs or separates, often by emphasizing differences. Basically, as I understand it, the barriers in the implementation of IS/IT are factors that inhibit or causing the stoppage of the implementation process.

Based on all the interviews that I had with the companies that I visited, here are barriers in IS/IT implementation that I identified.

Insufficient Financial resource to support implementation

It is quite obvious why this barrier is common to all the answers that were given by the IT personnel of all the companies that I visited. In any organization, implementation cost is always one of the parameters that should be considered to identify whether the company can afford the implementation or not and as we all know, an IS/IT implementation can be very costly in most cases. Financial resource can be insufficient for a lot of reasons. One of the reasons can be because there are some other priorities that should be completed first rather than implementing IT/IS. Finances can be very difficult to produce especially if your company is just starting or your company is considered a small to medium enterprise that doesn’t have a good financial foundation. It is a fact that money is needed in order to implement any drastic change in a company whether it is on the IS/IT sector or others. Without the proper financial support, the needed resource/materials in the implementation of IS/IT will not be generated thus inhibiting the implementation of IS/IT in a company.


End User Resistance

One cliché tells us that the only constant thing in this world is change. But for some people, change can be very difficult if not frightening. Some people tend to be reluctant to go out of their comfort zones which would make them refuse to accept change. If there is an implementation of IS/IT, it should be expected that there can be resistance by some traditionalist who are not comfortable with the change. This resistance can be a problem especially if your company spends a considerable amount of financial resource for the implementation but the end users are not utilizing it making the implementation ineffective. In this case, the implementation of IT/IS will be considered a liability instead of an asset for the company.

This barrier can be avoided by proper planning, education and communication in order for end users to appreciate the new system.

Inadequate time for implementation

Time constriction is considered a barrier in IS implementation in cases where an information system takes considerably longer time to be planned and set up before it can be used for actual operation. Most of the proposed information system especially if it is made by an in-house department, would require a certain amount of time to be made and would consume ample time for rigorous testing to make sure that it is properly done and to lessen the margin of error as much as possible. If the system would be needed much earlier than expected, then time constriction would be a barrier for the implementation. The lack of enough time to make an information system would result in the failure of implementation and thus making it a barrier. It is safe to say, that time is also considered to be a factor in the implementation of IS/IT.