Shirley Gregor

Topic

Key Factors Leading to IT Value Realization: The Australian Experience

Gaining business value from the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) is a common objective for CIOs and CEOs; yet, in the value realization race not everyone is a winner - some firms consistently achieve higher returns from the use of IT than others.  This presentation draws on a study in Australia  that identified key factors, strategies and mechanisms that differentiate winners from losers in achieving value through ICT.   Over 1000 organizations were surveyed and 50 top executives interviewed.  The study identified three prime explanatory constructs for ICT value realization across all organizations and all industries: (i) ICT investment strategy type; (ii) Strategic management practices; and (iii) Organizational transformation practices.  Underlying these factors is the level of ICT awareness or ICT savviness found in the firm.  This research shows that ICT related benefits originate from factors largely within an organization’s control and provides further evidence of the relative importance of management and organizational factors in driving ICT productivity gains.

About Shirley Gregor

ANU Endowed Chair in Information Systems, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

Email: shirley.gregor@anu.edu.au  

Web: http://ecocomm.anu.edu.au/people/info.asp?Surname=Gregor&Firstname=Shirley  

Shirley Gregor is the ANU Endowed Chair in Information Systems at the Australian National University, Canberra, where she heads the National Centre for Information Systems Research and is Head of the School of Accounting and Business Information Systems. Professor Gregor’s current research interests include the adoption and strategic use of information and communications technologies, intelligent systems and human-computer interface issues, and the theoretical foundations of information systems. Dr Gregor has led several large projects in the e-commerce area funded by the Meat Research Corporation, the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, and the Australian Research Council.  Professor Gregor spent a number of years in the computing industry in Australia and the United Kingdom before beginning an academic career. She obtained her Ph.D. in Information Systems from the University of Queensland. Dr Gregor’s publications include 4 edited books, 15 book chapters and over 80 papers in conferences and journals such as Management Information Systems Quarterly, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, International Journal of Human Computer Studies, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, European Journal of Information Systems and Information Technology & People. Professor Gregor was inaugural President of the Australasian Association of Information Systems 2002-2003 and is currently Vice-President of the Australian Council of Professors and Heads of Information Systems.  Professor Gregor was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honour’s list in June 2005 for services as an educator and researcher in the field of information systems and in the development of applications for electronic commerce in the agribusiness sector. In 2005 she was also elected as Fellow of the Australian Computer Society.