Information Infrastructure in SMMEs:

1. Information Infrastructure in SMMEs: Building block or happenstance? Dewald Roode

2. Based on two empirical research studies by the master’s students of 2006 Information Infrastructure Development: An African Perspective • NesaarBanderker • Kunal Patel • Gerard van Rooyen • Maureen Tanner (project leader) Information Infrastructures & SMEs: An Interpretive Case Study using Actor-Network Theory • Mogen Naidoo • AnjaliRamburn (project leader) • Seth Rubin • Mark Tudor UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

3. Overview • What is Information Infrastructure? • How does it manifest in large organizations? • What about small organizations? • Research approach and methodology • Case Studies conducted • Underpinning theory • Data collection, analysis, findings and interpretation • Conclusions UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

4. What is Information Infrastructure? Various definitions from the literature UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

5. What is Information Infrastructure? Chung, Byrd, Lewis & Ford (2005) Cordella (2005) • The shared IT resources of a technical component of hardware, software, communication technologies, data, and core applications and a human component of skills and competencies that provide a unique technological foundation (1) for widespread communications interchanges across an organisation and (2) for the design, development, implementation and maintenance of present and future business applications • The output of the recursive dynamic interaction between technology, people and content • Information Infrastructure is more than the sum of its different parts; instead, it represents an interwoven interaction between technology, people and content UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

6. What is Information Infrastructure? Hanseth (2004) Constantinides & Barrett (2004) • More than ‘pure’ technology; rather, a socio-technical network • Heterogeneous concerning the qualities of its constituencies • Include technological components, humans, organizations, institutions, and so on • Connected and interrelated, constituting ecologies of infrastructures • Develops through extending and improving the installed base • An ever-evolving socio-technical ecology of people, institutions, artefacts, and practices • To understand the different layers of the information infrastructure ecology, we need to acknowledge both the intentions and meanings of different groups and individuals, and the dynamic role of technological artefacts in mediating those meanings and intentions UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

7. Constantinides & Barrett (2004) UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

8. Information Infrastructure as an already existing Ecology of Ubiquitous Socio-Technical Relations “Crossover” refers to the exchange of properties among humans and nonhumans in the process of their interaction to achieve different goals Constantinides & Barrett (2004) UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

9. What is Information Infrastructure? In 1987, John Zachman, author of the Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture, wrote “To keep the business from disintegrating, the concept of information systems architecture is becoming less of an option and more of a necessity.” The Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture has evolved and become the model around which major organizations view and communicate their enterprise information infrastructure. Enterprise Architecture provides the blueprint, or architecture, for the organization's information infrastructure. from www.zifa.com UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

10. UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

11. The Zachman Framework The top level of the Zachman Framework is focused on the concerns of senior executives (“Scope”) The second level focuses on the slightly more detailed concerns of business managers (“Enterprise Model”) The third level focuses on concerns that business managers and IS managers often work on together (“System Model”) Levels four to six focus on details that IS managers and software developers are concerned with UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

12. The Zachman Framework • The framework isn’t meant to function simply as a way of classifying the types of documentation an enterprise might create • There should be relationships between cells in the matrix • Applications should be associated with specific business processes • Business processes should have goals and measures that should, in turn, be related upward to corporate goals and downward to application and system goals • The architecture stresses both information and the relationships between information that should be established and maintained UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

13. Enterprise Architecture • An effective EA programme has two critical components • The EA Content Framework • The EA Governance Framework • The EA Content Framework is the methodology for defining the various models that will constitute the EA – typically, this could be the Zachman Framework UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

14. Enterprise Architecture • All approaches to EA content recognize a set of four models that represent the enterprise: • Business architecture • Application architecture • Information architecture • Technical architecture UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

15. The Four Basic Models of Enterprise Architecture UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

16. Enterprise Architecture Governance Once the EA Content Framework is identified and customized for the enterprise, it is critical to define an Enterprise Architecture Governance Framework that ensures the successful development, integration and management of this content in the context of the enterprise UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

17. Enterprise Architecture Governance Framework Disciplines of Enterprise Architecture Investment Leadership Policies&Principles Organization Processes Measurement Dimensions of Enterprise Architecture Governance Enabling Tools INFOSYS UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

18. Leadership Establishing an EA is an objective which not only promises vast benefits, but is sure to induce some short-term pain – ending quick-and-dirty ad hoc solutions, enforcing some discipline on even strategic projects, and taking effort to understand and adjust guidelines This requires the alignment of the diverse interests of a large number of stakeholders UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

19. Leadership To achieve such alignment of interests requires a strong and attractive idea of the goal – an almost tangible picture of the future and its benefits Establishing such a shared vision is the major challenge of leading an EA initiative Usually such vision emanates from the CIO or a person in his/her immediate environment UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

20. Leadership This person has to problematize the situation and offer the establishment of an EA as the solution If there is enough buy-in and interest in the proffered solution, then the following practices for establishing leadership for an EA function have been found to be effective: UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

21. Leadership • Establish an EA Steering Committee involving all senior business and technology leaders to ensure senior leadership sponsorship, involvement of all business units and a process for arbitration • Appoint a Chief Architect who understands and identifies with business, but also has a sound understanding of technology • Obtain buy-in from three constituent groups • Senior line-of-business (LOB) leaders • Middle management • Distributed technical staff and IT “power users” UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

22. Information Infrastructures in small organizations Small organizations do not have the required resources to build and maintain formal Information Infrastructures and many are unaware of its importance Nevertheless, there is always some form of informal Information Infrastructure already integrated into their business practices (Constantinides & Barrett refer to the already existing ecology of ...) What do we know about this? UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

23. Information Infrastructures in small organizations • Chester and Skok (2000) developed the concept of a roadmap for small organizations that identifies four different stages in the development and use of ICT by small organizations • Inactive • Basic ICT user • Substantial user • Advanced/sophisticated user UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

24. Inactive Basic Substantial Sophisticated We don’t know what we don’t know Several applications, business dependent Limited use of desktop packaged software Integrated applications + differentiated services ICT Support Roadmap (Chester & Skok, 2000) UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

25. Information Infrastructures in small organizations Using the roadmap, they indicate the typical support services that could be supplied to small organizations during the different stages, or, to help them advance through the stages UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

26. Inactive Basic Substantial Sophisticated Advice & consultancy Best practices Mentoring & Awareness Learning and Development DIY & outsourcing Centre of Excellence Support Services for SMEs (Chester & Skok, 2000) UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

27. Information Infrastructures in small organizations There is little that can be faulted about the roadmap of Chester & Skok Also, their proposed framework for providing support services to small organizations is well intended and useful However, most small organizations would not be able to afford such support services The question therefore arises: how do they cope? UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

28. Information Infrastructures in small organizations • The research investigated Information Infrastructures within small organizations • More precisely, it attempted to uncover • the views small organizations have on Information Infrastructure, • the way in which they utilize their Information Infrastructures and • the way they appropriate these into their business practices UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

29. Information Infrastructures in small organizations The results of the research might provide pointers to how we could prepare students who would end up in small organizations for the role that they could play vis-à-vis the establishment of an information infrastructure The assumption is that our current educational programmes do not (adequately) prepare them for this UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

30. Research Approach and Methodology Three-pronged approach: Interpretive Two Case Studies Using Actor-Network Theory as underpinning theory UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

31. Case Studies Conducted At two small organizations XPress ConWork UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

32. What is an SMME? Finance and Business Services Sector UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

33. First Case Study XPress ( a pseudonym) is a relatively small organisation in Stellenbosch with a headcount of less than 15 people Started in 2000, offering digital publication services to the open market By 2003 refocused on non-profit organizations and other small organizations Early in 2006 started specializing in publishing financial reports for organizations UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

34. XPress UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

35. XPress – Technological Infrastructure UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

36. XPress – Technological Infrastructure UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

37. Xpress: Technical Architecture UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

38. XPress – Brief history • Started in 2000 as a partnership between the current Managing Director and a previous business partner who left the business in February 2004 • Initial primary strategy: to leverage the advances in digital publication which larger publishing houses were not taking advantage of • establish an online library of digitally stored material that could be printed on demand UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

39. XPress – Brief history This attracted the interest of various publishing houses, some of which had ulterior motives Sold 50% of equity; this provided capital that could be used to fund the strategy The next four years showed that the initial promise of smaller publishing runs was not attractive to the mass market UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

40. XPress – Brief history However, they uncovered a niche market with Non-Profit Organisations Concentrated on this market at the expense of the other less profitable work One of the founding partners wanted to leave the business UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

41. XPress – Brief history A deal was brokered by the remaining partner: a new investment company bought out this founding partner and acquired the 50% from the previous holding company The Managing Director was now a minority (25%) shareholder with the new investment company holding the remaining 75% UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

42. XPress – Brief history A year after this change in ownership it was decided that in order to grow the business into a larger more profitable venture it was necessary to move away from primarily servicing NPO’s into the publishing of financial reports UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

43. XPress – Brief history The Managing Director had reservations around pursuing this strategy as the nature of publishing financial reports is significantly different from the service they had been providing XPress did not have the necessary expertise and had to source this from outside Eventually identified a Johannesburg based company that offered these services; persuaded the majority of the employees to leave their existing employment and join XPress UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

44. XPress – Brief history The new (permanent) employees now make up the majority of the company – previously XPress had used contractors This put added pressure on the Managing Director to deliver the sales to support these fixed costs Clients of the previous company had to be pitched again in order to bring in the work to support the team New hardware and software had to be acquired to support the studio related processes UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

45. XPress – Brief history The research was undertaken six months after this last change at XPress It has been a good time from a research perspective as many of the Information Infrastructure has been renewed as part of the fundamental change to the company Investigating the motivation behind these decisions provided a detailed contextual understanding of how these were approached and taken UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

46. Second Case Study ConWork (a pseudonym) has its head office in Bellville with one branch in Isando Currently employs 23 permanent staff with an annual turnover in excess of R10 million Started in 1996, the company supplies blue-collar contract workers to organisations and industry in the Western Cape and in Gauteng UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

47. ConWork UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

48. ConWork– Technological Infrastructure • Hardware • Server plus 15 terminals (networked infrastructure) • 7 Printers and 2 copier machines • Siemens switchboard • 3 Routers for mobile phones • Satellite tracking vehicle, route planning and 24 h surveillance UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

49. ConWork– Technological Infrastructure UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007

50. ConWork– Brief history In the early days, ConWork’s core business was that of providing drivers to transport companies on a contract basis The demand for this type of service soared as the company became better known in the marketplace ConWork expanded its core services to include other blue-collar workers, such as labourers, assistants and administrative clerks Also provided a number of additional services such as the supply and management of staff on temporary and permanent contracts UCT Department of IS Research Seminar 24 October 2007