Volume 12 Issue 2
December 2009
The rapidly increasing pace of investments of several billions of dollars in information and communication technology (ICT) enabled Information Systems (IS) annually continues unabated almost a decade into the new millennium. In the business sector, there has long been an awareness that the successful implementation of IS is a non-negotiable component of core strategy for improved organisational performance, flexibility, competitiveness and hence profits. However, especially since the advent of the Internet, ICTs are increasingly being used in diverse settings, spanning all spheres of governments, NGOs, micro enterprises and even small rural communities in developing countries. It is not surprising therefore, that in parallel, issues concerning the evaluation of IS have also become more complex and diverse. Thus as we move forward to the next decade, IS evaluation researchers will be faced with byzantine problems which will require greater effort and the application of more insightful intellectual rigor in their quests for solutions.
The papers in this issue bear testimony to the diversity of problems associated with IS evaluation. Through stringent peer-review the seven papers in this issue of EJISE provide insight to an array of perplexing IS evaluation problems. The continued prominence of internet based IS implementations is borne out by the papers authored by O’Reilly and Finnegan and Truong. The investigation of the latter serves also to remind us of the importance of users, and the need for continued development of theories to better understand this critical stakeholder group in the increasingly diverse environments of IS implementations in the current era. The paper by Sanga and Venter is a contribution in this regard as they demonstrate the usefulness of the analytical hierarchy process algorithm for evaluating software in an environment where users have limited usage experience. Lastly, the paper by Carcary addresses a gap in the IS literature in respect of evaluation of IS within higher education. This paper is also a useful demonstration of the application of the interpretive paradigm using the grounded theory methods.
On a final note, I would like to pay tribute to Professor Dan Remenyi, the founding editor of EJISE. On behalf of the editorial board, EJISE readership, and the IS evaluation research community, I would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to the outgoing editor, for his immeasurable contributions to the development of the IS evaluation body of knowledge through this journal, as well as his concomitant academic activities. This is a privileged pair of shoes that I step into, and I intend to walk in them with a firm sense of commitment, dedication and humbleness which are the hallmarks of Professor Remenyi.
Shaun Pather
Editor
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