Barriers in IS/IT implementation

According to what I have research, barriers in IS/IT implementation have a kinds and things to be considered. It could also be an important too. But how and why is it? Just find out in more discussions below. You will learn here also what are these certain barriers are.

Organizations are as alike and unique as human beings. Similarly, group processes can be as straightforward or as complex as the individuals who make up the organization. It is vital to successfully launching a new program that the leaders understand the strengths, weaknesses, and idiosyncrasies of the organization or system in which they operate. As you implement technology, you can also run into barriers in your firm. Try to anticipate these barriers to implementation so that you can develop strategies to minimize their impact or avoid them altogether.


Why are barriers important?

A barrier is an obstacle which prevents a given policy instrument being implemented, or limits the way in which it can be implemented. In the extreme, such barriers may lead to certain policy instruments being overlooked, and the resulting strategies being much less effective. For example, demand management measures are likely to be important in larger cities as ways of controlling the growth of congestion and improving the environment. But at the same time they are often unpopular, and cities may be tempted to reject them simply because they will be unpopular. If that decision leads in turn to greater congestion and a worse environment, the strategy will be less successful. The emphasis should therefore be on how to overcome these barriers, rather than simply how to avoid them.


What are the principal barriers?

Barriers are grouped into the four categories listed below.

1) Legal and institutional barriers
These include lack of legal powers to implement a particular instrument, and legal responsibilities which are split between agencies, limiting the ability of the city authority to implement the affected instrument.

2) Financial barriers
These include budget restrictions limiting the overall expenditure on the strategy, financial restrictions on specific instruments, and limitations on the flexibility with which revenues can be used to finance the full range of instruments.

3) Political and cultural barriers
These involve lack of political or public acceptance of an instrument, restrictions imposed by pressure groups, and cultural attributes, such as attitudes to enforcement, which influence the effectiveness of instruments.

4) Practical and technological barriers
While cities view legal, financial and political barriers as the most serious which they face in implementing policy instruments, there may also be practical limitations. For management and pricing, enforcement and administration are key issues. For infrastructure, management and information systems, engineering design and availability of technology may limit progress. Generally, lack of key skills and expertise can be a significant barrier to progress, and is aggravated by the rapid changes in the types of policy being considered.


How should we deal with barriers in the short term?

It is important not to reject a particular policy instrument simply because there are barriers to its introduction. One of the key elements in a successful strategy is the use of groups of policy instrument which help overcome these barriers. This is most easily done with the financial and political and cultural barriers, where one policy instrument can generate revenue to help finance another (as, for example, fares policy and service improvements), or one can make another more publicly acceptable (for example rail investment making road pricing more popular). A second important element is effective participation, which can help reduce the severity of institutional and political barriers, and encourage joint action to overcome them. Finally, effective approaches to implementation can reduce the severity of many barriers.


How can we overcome barriers in the longer term?

It is often harder to overcome legal, institutional and technological barriers in the short term. There is also the danger that some institutional and political barriers may get worse over time. However, strategies should ideally be developed for implementation over a 15-20 year timescale. Many of these barriers will not still apply twenty years hence, and action can be taken to remove others. For example, if new legislation would enable more effective instruments such as pricing to be implemented, it can be provided. If split responsibilities make achieving consensus impossible, new structures can be put in place. If finance for investment in new infrastructure is justified, the financial rules can be adjusted. TIPP makes a number of recommendations for longer term institutional change. Barriers should thus be treated as challenges to be overcome, not simply impediments to progress. A key element in a long term strategy should be the identification of ways of resolving these longer term barriers.


Furthermore, the following list of common barriers can be used to help your leadership team identify potential obstacles. The list of essential elements for change can help the team brainstorm possible solutions. The lists are a good starting point for a planning session that will be most effective if it also takes into account the organization's unique characteristics (Institute for Health Improvement).


Common Barriers
•Studying the problem too long without acting
•Trying to get everyone's agreement first
•Educating without changing structures or expectations
•Tackling everything at once
•Measuring nothing or everything
•Failing to build support for replication
•Assuming that the status quo is OK

More Barriers to Change
•Lack of such resources as time and commitment
•Resistance to change
•Lack of senior leadership support or physician champion
•Lack of cooperation from other agencies, providers, departments, and facilities
•Ineffective teams
•Burdensome data collection

Essential Elements for Change Effort
•Define the problem
•Define the target population
•Define effective treatment strategies and establish procedural guidelines
•Establish performance measures; set goals
•Define effective system changes and interventions
•Develop leadership and system change strategy


Other common problems/barriers in implementation

Technology Disconnect - Among businesses there is a commonly used phrase called “technology disconnect". As applied to law firms, it refers to the gap between the managing partners who make the bottom line decisions for the firm and the technologists who make major technology recommendations to the firm which may cost thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or millions of dollars. I hear many stories from the "technologists" that the firm does not support their efforts. But is it surprising in light of some of the past technological solutions that were sold to law firms and failed to become reality?

Technology today is mature enough and generally standard enough to make reasonable future decisions, but the disconnect may still lie between the managing partners and the technologists or now more popularly called the Chief Information Officer (CIO) or Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO). The managing partner does not understand the technology and the CIO, unless he or she is an attorney and/or partner, does not understand the business of the law firm. The managing partner usually does not see his job as understanding the technology, let alone implementing it. The CIO does not understand the practice of law and remains focused on installing the technology, but not the applications or teaching that will benefit the firm. The solution is for both the managing partner to take a greater interest in technology and the CIO to take a larger role in understanding the business of the firm. The foundation of the old must be preserved with the calculated implementation of new technology investments.

The managing partner(s) will have to be fluent in broad technology concepts so that they can communicate intelligently with the CIO about the value of such concepts to the firm. It is important for the CIO's to demystify the technology to the lawyers and others in the firm. Scheduling speakers, training sessions, keeping resource material available, and so on, can accomplish this. The managing partners must be willing to understand the technology and bridge the gap between their bottom line roles and the implementation of new technologies. Lawyers who did not grow up in the computer era manage law firms. They do not understand their power, capability and applications. Their resistance to the incorporation of digital information into the firm will spell trouble for these firms.

Be careful what you wish for - you may get your wish! One situation to be wary of is that in which the leaders accept that technology is important and see the implementation as buying some hardware and software, without training the firm. They generally will “tell” the committee, Chief Information Officer (CIO) or technology advocate what to do. This is a very difficult situation. Generally, they are the authority in the firm but do not understand technology and generally are too busy to spend the time understanding it. Education, if the leader takes the time, may be the only solution.

Computer Literacy - A recent survey showed that 51% of the top executives in the United States are computer illiterate. They rely heavily on their management team for advice for technology purchases. The main reasons for computer illiteracy are that computer knowledge and skills are considered a low priority, computers intimidate executives, and they resist change. They may be the naysayers who will not support your efforts to enact your firm’s strategic plan. Their negative comments and actions can cause a rift, and much worse, a nonadoption of technology in the firm.

Technology Department Resistance - Strangely enough, your own technologists may be against implementing new applications; maybe for good reason. Does your firm support their department with sufficient resources? What happened the last time that they implemented a new technology? Did you hold them responsible for glitches? Did you reward them for their long hours and worry about the implementation of the technology?

One sign of their hesitancy is shown in meetings where they point to a 3-year implementation period for applications that could realistically be up and running within 6 months. Others are reluctant to move to client/server or Intranet technology because it decentralizes their control over the computers. Be aware of the technologist who does not want to change. They are content in the DOS environment, using outdated technology, and see change as more work. However, change for change sake is not good – the benefits must be demonstrated.

Capital Investment and Billable Hour Concerns - Most law firms are not capital intensive. The money that is earned by the firm is distributed to its members. Before, the firm did not have to set aside or consider the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars that are necessary to implement or upgrade existing technology. It maybe difficult to convince one of the senior partners to invest substantial money in new software, hardware and training when he may be retiring in a few years. Also, beware of the impulsive enthusiasm where the partners have not committed for the long term.

Do not ever underestimate the impact of the billable hour on a technology plan. In simple terms, it would be more profitable for a firm if each attorney practiced law with a quill pen and law books. The lawyer could charge by the hour, incur no secretarial expenses, and manually research the law. The lawyer would make more profit than by automating. In fact, if one invests in technology to get the work done faster, then the firm will lose revenue by investing in the technology and by decreasing the number of billable hours that one could charge their client. This is a short sighted view that does not consider your client’s need for low cost, efficient services, value based billing, and the ability to handle more matters in a shorter period of time.

Once you understand the obstacles to implementation, sound practical approaches can be developed to overcome any objections. However, a word of caution, some law firms will not change. They have old cultures, and cumbersome structures and politics. They will give only lip service to needed reengineering and quiet the unrest by investing in some technology. Unfortunately, if a firm’s management is unwilling to adopt technology, they maybe discarded like the typewriter


On the other hand, for my adopted organization, the barriers that they’ve encountered were the following:

1. Difficulty of implementation
- Their difficulty of implementation is mostly on their time scheduling. Mostly, the implementation of their systems would be extended because of some problems and errors that arise during simulation and more revisions that they have done on it to make the systems good and function properly and perfectly as well as to achieve the customer’s satisfaction.

2. Security is an over hyped problem
- Regarding to their security, they do really have a problem on it because they don’t have the System Administrator whose the one will maintain and control the security of the server. Therefore, their General Manager is only the one that can now control and manipulate the server. But he is also very busy and not always around on their company that’s why this is the cause why the other personnel cannot access the server and cannot do their job which supposedly the information in an information system should be available for the users at any time.

3. Lack of personnel
- In their company, they were just few personnel there that’s why sometimes they cannot pursue to do the other systems because sometimes they will have so many projects to do and they cannot do it all. But inspite for that, still the company strives to be reputable in its excellent output of business solutions and systems.

4. Lack of potential customer connected
- Because of no server and loss of wireless networks or loss of internet connection sometimes, there would be no connection also with their customers. Therefore, the customers cannot access the files that they have to download and cannot have a communication with them.

5. Cost
- There was also the time in their company that they have a problem of the cost of enterprise that’s why they had a difficulty and cannot implement what they want to implement all the way sometimes.


References:
•http://www.konsult.leeds.ac.uk/public/level1/sec10/index.htm
•http://www.mywhatever.com/cifwriter/content/22/4481.html
•http://www.elawexchange.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=345&Itemid=310