An exploratory study of the influence of the IS function and organizational context on business process reengineering project initiatives

To help evaluate the risk of process reengineering failure and enhance the prospect of its success, three potential sources of influence on BPR initia tives and success are examined in this study. These include the innovative capacity of the organization, IS maturity and strategy-IS interface. It was found that while factors related to IT maturity and influence such as expe rience in mainframe and client/server computing may facilitate the decision to reengineer, they are not critical in the later stages of the initiative . On the other hand, factors having significant relationships beyond the in itial decision include variables pertaining to innovative capacity of the o rganization and strategy-IS interface. These findings suggest that technica l IT competence as a critical enabler is necessary but not sufficient for r eengineering success. Based on study findings regarding the innovative capa city of the organization, guidelines for reengineering risk assessment are proposed. In addition, implications of the findings, limitations of the stu dy and opportunities for further research are also discussed. (C) 1998 Else vier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.