Managing Information Technology

Chapter 13 • Leading the Information Systems Function 543

a business-oriented perspective than a technology-
component perspective.

Supporting Computer Users

One of the responsibilities on an IS department is to
provide technical assistance to employees using personal
computer tools within and outside of company walls.
Although the potential productivity gains from what’s
referred to as user computing(orend-user computing)
are well recognized, these benefits do not come without
organizational costs for supporting computer users. For
example, the initial purchase of a personal computer is
generally less than 20 percent of the total cost of support-
ing an employee using a networked computer over its typi-
cal three-year life cycle. This is because the total cost of
ownership (TCO)for desktop and portable computers
also includes ongoing costs such as application software
licenses, network access, communications services, user
training and support services, as well as virus and spam
protection, e-mail storage costs, and so on.
Figure 13.6 presents a framework that can be used
to help design an appropriate organizational approach to
supporting end-user computing activities in general. The
Individual-Level box at the bottom right includes factors
that characterize the employee, the business tasks for
which computers are used, and the end-user tools. Highly
skilled computer users can be found in most organizations

today, but it is important to remember that not every user,

or user department, may have the same level of computer

skills or the same complexity of computer tasks. (For a

discussion of application development by users, see

Chapter 9.)

The Organizational Context in Figure 13.6 explic-

itly acknowledges that the location of the IS specialists

providing the support (which could include personnel

that work for an outsourcer) and the different needs of

different business units need to be taken into account

when designing strategies and tactics for providing desk-

top support. For example, if an IS group is physically

located alongside the users to be supported, there is a

greater likelihood that these “local” IS professionals

will have a high degree of business-specific knowledge.

The opposite is likely to be true if user support has been

outsourced.

The two-headed arrow between the Organization-

Level and Individual-Level boxes reflects the importance

of designing a support approach that takes into account

unique aspects of the organization as well as the needs of

different individuals: A rigid, one-size-fits-all approach to

supporting users is not likely to be as effective.

Strategies for User Computing

Most organizations today have developed an explicit

strategy and an overall approach to supporting computer

• Support Services


• Control Policies
  and Procedures

Strategy

Technology

Location of IS

Support personnel

Organization-

level factors

Organizational Context

Organization-Level

• User Skills
  and Tool Usage

User

Developer

Task

Tool

Individual-Level

Business unit

FIGURE 13.6 Framework for Designing User Support