The impact of ERP systems on firm and business process performance

Purpose - The purpose of this article is to provide further insights into the adoption of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and the impacts on organisational performance. It aims at challenging existing claims of ERP vendors with regard to the benefits of their products and at providing evidence of the benefits of bundling ERPS with supply chain management systems. Design/methodology/approach - A survey was conducted to collect data on several aspects of organisational performance in companies that adopted ERPS and/or SCMS and the respective control groups. Financial key performance indicators were used to measure overall firm performance and the supply-chain operations reference model to operationalise performance at the business process (supply chain) level. Findings - The key results contradict the claims of ERPS vendors insofar as no significant performance differences were found between ERPS adopters and non-adopters, either at the business process level, or at the overall firm level. While it could be confirmed that the longer the experience of firms with ERPS, the higher their overall performance, no evidence was found of a similar effect on business process (supply chain) performance. Only those ERPS adopters that also adopted SCMS achieved significantly higher performance at the business process level. Originality/value - Despite the small size of the SCMS user sample, the results do provide some important insights into the relationships between ERPS, SCMS and performance which might encourage both researchers and practitioners in that field to critically reflect on the "optimal" mix of modules and software packages within increasingly diverse forms of enterprise systems. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Performance Impacts of Business Intelligence and Analytics Systems – the Mediating Role of Management Accounting Information Quality

Our research investigates the impact of management accounting (MA) information quality on organisational performance by considering the role of business intelligence and analytics (BI/A) systems and environmental uncertainty. By drawing on the resource-based view, dynamic capabilities theory and information and systems quality frameworks, we develop a model which establishes the scope and frequency of MA decision support methods used in an organisation and MA information service levels as performance enhancing aspects of MA information quality. Using survey data collected from accounting and finance executives, the results of our PLS-SEM path model confirm that both of these aspects of MA information quality are positively associated with organisational performance and that such effects are – at least partly – moderated by environmental uncertainty. We also find strong support for the predicted impact of BI/A systems quality on both MA information quality constructs. Finally, the results for our path model analysis also reveal that the effects between BI/A systems quality and MA information quality characteristics also ‘translate’ into a significant indirect effect of BI/A systems quality on performance

Impact of Big Data Analytics on Decision Making and Performance

‘Big Data’ has become a major topic of interest and discussion for both academics and professionals in the IT and business disciplines, and case evidence suggests that companies engaging in Big Data outperform others. It has to be noted though that ‘Bigger’ Data as such does not provide any benefits, but it is rather how organisations make sense of data and gain insights from analysing the data. Analytic capabilities and practices are required to convert Big Data (BD) into insights which arguably improve decision-making and thereby organisational performance. While protagonists of such Big Data Analytics (BDA) imply that those effects exist, so far they have not been confirmed by rigorous empirical research. Data was obtained using a cross-sectional online survey which targeted Chief Information Officers and senior IT managers of medium-to-large Australian for-profit organisations and yielded 163 complete responses, which met the standard criteria for measurement reliability and validity. PLS-SEM and multiple bootstrapping methods were used to test the hypotheses, while controlling for firm size. The present study empirically confirms claims made in the literature that BD and related analytics lead to better performance. It also reveals that such benefits are achieved primarily because BDA creates additional incentives for managers to base their decisions on analytics, and that more analytic-based decision making actually leads to superior performance. Finally, the results of our study suggest that managers in organisations which engage in BD are generally more analytics-minded in their decision making, even if the analytic tools and methods used in support of their decisions are not particularly sophisticated. The results provide evidence that neither Big Data nor Big Data Analytics are just ‘hypes’, but they do actually lead to superior performance, partly directly and partly indirectly by creating an incentive for managers to rely on analytics when making strategic or operational decisions. Interestingly, managers in smaller firms are more likely to base their decisions on analytics than larger firms, which suggests that they use analytics to compete against larger firms

Management Accounting Information Quality and Firm Performance – the Enabling Role of Business Intelligence and Analytics Systems

Our research investigates the impact of management accounting (MA) information quality on organisational performance by considering the role of business intelligence and analytics (BI/A) systems and environmental uncertainty. By drawing on the resource-based view, dynamic capabilities theory and information and systems quality frameworks, we develop a model which establishes the scope and frequency of MA decision support methods used in an organisation and MA information service levels as performance enhancing aspects of MA information quality. Using survey data collected from accounting and finance executives, the results of our PLS-SEM path model confirm that both of these aspects of MA information quality are positively associated with organisational performance and that such effects are – at least partly – moderated by environmental uncertainty. We also find strong support for the predicted impact of BI/A systems quality on both MA information quality constructs. Finally, the results for our path model analysis also reveal that the effects between BI/A systems quality and MA information quality characteristics also ‘translate’ into a significant indirect effect of BI/A systems quality on performance

The Impact of Business Intelligence on the Quality of Decision Making - A Mediation Model

© 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. Business Intelligence (BI) systems have been a top priority of CIOs for a decade, but little is known about how to successfully manage those systems beyond the implementation phase. This paper investigates the direct and indirect effects of BI management quality on the quality of managerial decision making using PLS analysis of survey responses of senior IT managers in Australia. The results confirm this overall relationship (total effect), but also reveal mediating effects of data/information quality and BI solution scope. The study contributes to both academia and industry by providing first time evidence of direct and indirect determinants of managerial decision support improvements related to BI solutions scope and active management of BI

The Role of Business Intelligence/Analytics Systems in Translating ‘Finance Transformation’ Efforts into Higher Accounting Information Service Levels

Our research investigates the trending topic ‘finance transformation’ (FT), how FT projects impact on the quality of business intelligence and analytics (BI/A) systems and to what extent such impacts result in higher internal accounting information service levels. Using survey data collected from accounting and finance executives the results of our SEM-PLS path model indicate that IT and efficiency centric FT projects lead to higher BI/A systems quality via two mediators: system/data integration and adoption of BA tools in management accounting. We also find that the use of ERP systems in management accounting has a complimentary effect in some of those relationships. Finally, we find that FTP projects actually lead to higher internal accounting information service levels via the above-mentioned indirect relationships, thereby providing first systematic evidence of managerial benefits associated with FT projects

Antecedents and Performance Impacts of Analytics-Based Managerial Decision-Making

This study investigates how organizations can achieve competitive advantage with data analytics. Two dimensions of the value creation process are investigated: (1) the input or antecedents of Big Data analytics (BDA) and (2) the mechanisms required to translate BDA investments into increased organizational performance. The results of survey responses from senior finance managers across a broad range of industries in Australia reveal that analytics-based decision-making (ABDM) is the main mechanism for converting analytic capabilities into competitive advantage. The technical, interaction and business skills of analysts are important antecedents of both BDA sophistication and ABDM, but the strongest driver of the latter business managers’ quantitative skills. We conclude that competing with analytics does not just require investments into analysts’ skills and related tools and IT architectures, but also into quantitative skills of business managers. Finally, our analysis reveals that managers of smaller organizations are more likely to base their decisions on analytics than those in large organizations