Over budget
Poor planning on information system may result in over budgeting thus affecting the financial stability of a project or business. High prices and inaccurate cost estimates can cause the information system projects to take more time and money than initially expected.
Poor quality
An information system structure that has been poorly planned can result in a decrease in the quality of the products or service being availed to the market. This causes customer dissatisfaction that reduces the sales and, hence, the profitability of the business is affected adversely (King, 2009).
Schedule failure
Being unable to meet the deadlines in the implementation of information system project is always a sign of poor planning. This means that different individuals will not be able to execute their mandates on time. Thus, the overall performance and success of the plan is greatly hampered.
Lost business
A poorly planned information system can affect the reputation of the IT managers and their subordinates. Therefore, the business would be indirectly affected as it would face a hostile recognition from its partners, investors, and customers. In addition, an ineffective information system plan results in wastage of resources (Bagad, 2009).
Low team morale
Improper information system planning can lead to segregation of the team as the team members may be assigned redundant tasks to accomplish. This increases the overall cost of implementation. Moreover, poor planning may result in lack of co-ordination between different departments.
Negative Effects of Poor Information System Planning
The implementation of the information system may be hampered when the planning was poor. Some issues require interaction and commitment of the top management. Improper planning may not address issues relating to interdepartmental coordination, individual support, and time frames. In the implementation of information system, certain processes require individual support for one to achieve the set goals and objectives. Additionally, the timeframe is a critical aspect in the implementation of the information system. Therefore, a proper information system plan has to incorporate scheduling and time frames in its structure (Stair, 2012). The success of an information system can also depend on the external environment of the business. For instance, before an organization adopts a particular information system, it needs to have the necessary documentation, descriptions of the system, and so on, to facilitate the approval from the relevant government authorities. In this regard, it would be important for the information system planners consider this aspect in order to constitute a proper plan.
Poor information system planning reduces the level of work monitoring and efficiency of the managers in work control. Furthermore, an ineffective information system can create frustration, discontent, and confusion among employees due to the unfamiliarity with the new system or as a result of problems which occur from errors in the system. An effective information system plan must be clear enough on the priorities, resource requirements, and potential drawbacks of the future projects. Also, the flexibility of the plan is an important factor that needs to be closely examined to ensure that the priorities are adjustable when necessary. The information system planning is always abused when it is given to an inappropriate department to handle it. The failure of identification makes planning improper. Planning of information system is primarily a management function and not a technical one. An organization’s rapid and effective transformation of the information system has a lot of significance to the aspects of business competition and competitive advantage (Tripathi, 2011). A firm gains competitive advantage over its competitors by ensuring proper planning for its information system.
References
Bagad, V. S. (2009) Management information system. Pune: Technical Publications.
King, W. R. (2009) Planning for information systems. New York, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
Stair, R. (2012) Principles of information system. New York, NY: Cengage Learning.
Tripathi, K. P. (2011) Role of management information system (MIS) in human resource. International Journal of Computer Science and Technology, 2 (1), 58- 62.