Managing Computers in Large Organizations

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Managing Microcomputers in Large Organizations http://www.nap.edu/catalog/167.html About this PDF file: This new digital representation of the original work has been recomposed from XML files created from the original paper book, not from the original typesetting files. Page breaks are true to the original; line lengths, word breaks, heading styles, and other typesetting-specific formatting, however, cannot be retained, and some typographic errors may have been accidentally inserted. Please use the print version of this publication as the authoritative version for attribution. A PERSPECTIVE FOR THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER 71 A Perspective for the Chief Executive Officer Alastair I. Omand* What is so different about the personal computer that it causes management such discomfort? Why is it so hard to figure out which issues deserve top management's attention? First, the personal computer marketplace is extremely dynamic. Changes in the technology are coming rapidly, apparently too fast for management to know what to buy. Almost daily the trade journals announce new microcomputer products, but nobody knows which are best for the long term. Some of the claims are misleading, and prices are always changing. It is a much different pace from that of the traditional world of large computers. Second, there is no longer an obvious central point for control. Central management information systems (MIS) departments have traditionally controlled the development and operation of computer systems, as well as the data used by them. End users have worked through programmers or MIS liaison people to get their work done. With personal computers, raw computing power is now available on the desktop of the user, who can do many if not all of the things formerly done by the MIS group. Further, this computing power is available to the user at relatively * Alastair I. Omand is executive in charge, General Motors Information Systems and Communications Activity, Warren, Michigan. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Managing Microcomputers in Large Organizations http://www.nap.edu/catalog/167.html About this PDF file: This new digital representation of the original work has been recomposed from XML files created from the original paper book, not from the original typesetting files. Page breaks are true to the original; line lengths, word breaks, heading styles, and other typesetting-specific formatting, however, cannot be retained, and some typographic errors may have been accidentally inserted. Please use the print version of this publication as the authoritative version for attribution. A PERSPECTIVE FOR THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER 72 low cost. This is significant not only because it signals an economic shift away from the large mainframes, but because many users can now approve the purchase of computers on their own authority. As a result, the marketing tactics of computer vendors have changed. Formerly, they marketed to the MIS people in the organization. Microcomputer vendors now are skirting the MIS department and aiming directly at end users. Before we can deal with the issues surrounding personal computers, we need to define personal computing and understand where it fits in the overall computing activities of an organization. Personal computing is one of three fundamentally different modes of computing in a corporate environment: Large-scale computing services represent the traditional mode, in which application systems are managed by MIS professionals rather than by end users. The users provide the data needed, and the MIS organization provides the application programs and processing services to produce the output. Good examples of such applications are payroll processing and product warranty systems. These kinds of applications will continue. The large-scale computing environment typically uses large mainframe computers managed in a restricted facility by the MIS department. Some organizations in the corporation have adopted an alternative departmental computing mode, often implemented on locally installed minicomputers. Departmental computing is characterized by shared use of computer resources among members of a department. An example would be a production scheduling system for a manufacturing plant. Then there is the personal computing mode, in which the individual performs tasks unique to the specific job. Personal computing automates the function of the individual, not that of the department, the division, or the corporation. My definition of personal computing is the use of a computer by an individual to help prepare his or her work product. This definition is important because most microcomputers today are designed for personal computing, that is, for individual users. Thus, the focus is not on payroll processing or shared databases, but on improving the productivity of the individual. In discussing what the microcomputer management issues really are, we need to draw a clear line between personal computing and departmental computing. Departmental computing systems Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
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