Implementing Virtual Organizations

Abstract

Within the UK, information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been widely introduced. A recent survey, however, indicates that ICT integration into SMEs has had varied success. Statistics suggest that businesses lack the expertise to identify and integrate ICTs into their organization and processes. A US survey has concluded that 50% of implementations fail when the process they are to support is reengineered to accommodate the technology. Significantly, there is limited support for predicting the consequences that changes to an organization incur. The design and implementation of ICTs must consider those who will use the system, their organization and the process it is to support. To facilitate this, an approach has been developed at the University of Salford that illustrates an organization in terms of its communication relationships, resources, and business practices. A software application has been developed and tested which both collates the large amounts of data involved and represents relationships. This is supported by an expert system that informs the selection and implementation of ICTs. A case study has been conducted with regional SMEs, the results of which are presented.