Standardisation, innovation and implementation of information technology

This paper looks at the mutual interplay between information technology (IT) and its environment. exploring specifically the issues surrounding innovations in the field of corporate IT systems we show that a distinction has to be made between different categories of information technology (IT) systems regarding their introduction, subsequent diffusion, and particularly their corporate usage. We will show that strategic deployment of e-mail will only happen if and when it is no longer considered an infrastructural technology. However, apparently this has rarely happened thus far. Strong relations and dependencies exist between standardisation, innovation and the subsequent implementation of IT systems. We argue that these activities must not be considered separately, especially as standards-based components are playing an increasingly important role in implementation processes. Consequently, the role of the users in, and their influence on, standards-setting are also addressed. The findings and conclusions presented are largely based on a number of interviews with large corporate users of e-mail systems.