The paradox of information systems: strategic value and low status

Information systems (IS) have provided dramatic returns for some organisations. For many others, IS underpin most of their activities. Spending on IS can be very high. Few organisations can function without adequate IS. Yet, there is an apparent paradox in the reliance on information systems and supporting information technologies (IT) on the one hand and the status of the information systems function on the other. While information systems can be critical to an organisation's ability to conduct and develop business, the information systems function is often considered as a secondary activity. To explore the paradox, this paper uses a cultural web model to assess the status of IS and IT activities as evidenced in the literature and through the study of four organisations. These serve to demonstrate the contradiction between the extent to which large organisations appear to rely on information systems and the low status of the information systems function. The implications of this are explored, and it is suggested that IS can be exploited fully only if there is a change in attitude and thereby an increase in status of the information systems function. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.