Reports

Methods in Business Research Report: IT Department in Organization

by Ravi Magazine · Published 3rd December 2017 · Updated 1st December 2017

methods in business research

Methods in Business Research Report: IT Department in Organization

Please list some of the services that your department performs for the corporation (limit up to 5 only)

Purpose : The question was asked in order to judge the extent of involvement and influence of the IT department in the organization.

Results :

Services	Number of companies	percentage of companies
In-house training	26	52
Budgeting	3	6
System support	16	32
Inventory control	18	36
Trouble shooting	40	80
Program development	24	48
Personnel files	10	20
Sales projections	18	36
Payrolls	35	70
Network support	20	40
E-mail	10	20
Accounting	20	40
Credit analysis	10	20
Total	250

Comments : The results show that majority of the companies are involved in the corporate functions, with trouble shooting as the main service.

1a. Which of the following telephone services are available to your management staff (please tick in the appropriate year) :

Purpose : The purpose of this question was to determine the level of technology in relation to telephonic services in the organization. The question also determined the future trend.

Results :

services	year 1996	percentage	year 1998	percentage
voice-mail services	8	16	5	13.89
conference calling	20	40	21	58.33
long distance conf. calling	9	18	10	27.78
other ( regular )	13	26	0	0
Total	50	100	36	100

Comments : The conference calling facility has been provided by most of the organizations and the focus in the future will also be conference calling.

Which of the following information technology environment is prevalent at your corporation (please tick in the appropriate year) :

Purpose : The question indicates the general level of sophistication of the computing environment being used by the organization.

Results :

IT environment	year 96	percentage	year 98	percentage
LAN	16	31.37	8	25
WAN	5	9.8	8	25
Mainframe	14	27.45	3	9.37
Mainframe + LAN	15	29.41	10	31.25
Intranet	1	1.96	3	9.37
Total	51	100	32	100

Comments : Around 32% of the organizations have LAN while an additional 30% have LAN connected to a mainframe. The Intranet is not a prospect for the near future as only 10% companies plan to have it in two years time.

How many PCs does your department support :

Purpose : The question was designed to find out the types of PCs currently being used by the multinationals and the future trends.

Result :

Number	486	Percentsge	Pentiums	Percentage

YEAR 1996
1 – 50	32	64	30	60
51 – 100	10	20	15	30
101 – 150	5	10	3	6
151 – 200	3	6	2	4
Total	50	100	50	100

YEAR 1998
1 – 50	40	80	20	40
51 – 100	4	8	16	32
101 – 150	6	12	8	16
151 – 200	0	0	6	12
Total	50	100	50	100

Comments : Majrotiy (64% and 60%) are currently using less than 50 486s and pentiums but the future trend is in favour of pentiums with 60% of the multinationals using more than 50 pentiums.

What networking environment, if any, is in place (please tick in the appropriate year) :

Purpose : The most widely used networking environment is identified in order to gauge the technology prevalent at different multinationals.

Results :

Networking Environment	year 96	percentage	year 98	percentage
Novell Netware	28	56	8	40
Windows NT	9	18	12	60
Win. For workgroups	2	4	0	0
UNIX	7	14	0	0
others	4	8	0	0
Total	50	100	20	100

Comment : At present 56% of the companies use Novell Netware but for the near future majority (60%) of the companies are shifting to Windows NT.

Which of the following software/groupware are installed (please tick in the appropriate year) :

Purpose : This question was asked to gauge the most widely used software in order to determine the current usage and the future trend in multinationals.

Results :

Software	year 96	percentage	year 98	percentage
Win – MS office suite	38	76	2	9.09
WordPerfect suite	18	36	0	0
Lotus notes	20	40	4	18.18
Oracle	10	20	13	59.09
SAS	0	0	3	13.63
other	10	20	0	0
Total	96	100	22	100

Comments : MS office is the most popular software with 76% of the companies using it, while in the future 60% of the companies plan to implement Oracle.

What percentage of the management staff in your corporation currently has access to a local (company wide) e-mail system (please tick in the appropriate year) :

Purpose : The question was intended to measure the availability of e-mail to the management staff. Future direction of e-mail availability was also measured.

Results :

percentage of management	year 96	percentage	year 98	percentage
>75%	13	26	3	8.57
>50% but <75%	0	0	5	14.27
>25% but <50%	3	6	7	20
<25% but available	16	32	17	48.57
none	18	36	3	8.57
Total	50	100	35	100

Comments : Majority (68%) of the companies either don’t have e-mail at all or the service is available to less than 25% of the staff. The trend in the future is slightly better with approximately 90% of the companies intending to provide at least 25% of their management staff with e-mail service.

6a. Is your management staff able to freely exchange e-mail between more than one company site in Pakistan.

Purpose : The purpose of this question was to measure the connectivity between a company’s sites in Pakistan.

Results :

Response	Number of companies	percentage
Yes	22	44
No	28	56
Total	50	100

Comments : Only 44% of the companies have e-mail facility between their sites in Pakistan.

6b . Is your management staff able to freely exchange e-mail Internationally.

Purpose : This question measured the connectivity of the multinationals internationally.

Results :

Response	Number of companies	percentage
Yes	33	66
No	17	34
Total	50	100

Comments : The international connectivity of multinationals is better than their national connectivity with 66% of the companies providing their management staff with international e-mail facility.

6c. Which media are you using to connect internationally.

Purpose: The purpose of this question was to find the technology most preferred by multinationals to connect internationally.

Results:

Media	Number of companies	percentage
VSAT	3	6
Regular phone lines to Internet service provider	23	46
56 kb dedicated line	0	0
T-1 dedicated line	2	4
ISDN	20	40
other	2	4
Total	50	100

Comments : Most of the companies use ISDN or the regular phone lines through Internet service providers. Only three companies use VSAT and all of them use 9.6 kb link.

6d. Are you currently conducting conference calls with two or more parties outside your PABX?

Purpose: The question was asked to find out the number of companies using this facility.

Result:

Response	Number of companies	Percentage
Yes	3	6
No	47	94
Total	50	100

Comments : The conference call facility outside the PABX is used by only 6% of the companies.

6e. What kinds of applications do you foresee over the next two years that would increase your demand for bandwidth.

Purpose : The question was asked to find out the applications that multinational managers associate with bandwidth demand.

Result :

Applications	Number of companies	Percentage
Video-conferencing	8	25.00
LAN enhancement	10	31.25
LOTUS Notes	3	9.38
Increased sites	9	28.13
Others	2	6.25
Total	32	100

Comment : Only 64 % of the interviewees responded to this question and out of those 25 % associated video conferencing with increase in brand width, 31.25 % with LAN enhancement, 28.13 with increased sites.

Is your management staff able to browse the World Wide Web (Internet) from their PCs?

Purpose: The mode and the availability of the usage of WWW in the companies was measured through this question.

Result:

Response	Number of companies	percentage
No, not at all	23	46
Yes	3	6
No, but through a central machine	14	28
No, but will be able to next year	10	20
Total	50	100

Comments : Majority (46%) of the companies do not provide their employees with the facility to browse the World Wide Web.

Does your company (Pakistan Ltd.) have a Web page or Web site :

Purpose : The question was designed to find out the number of companies thinking to develop a Web page or Web site.

Result :

Response	Number of companies	percentage
No	41	82
No, but will have one next year	8	16
Yes	1	2
Total	50	100

Comment : Only one company has a Web page while 16% of the companies are thinking of developing a Web page or a Web site next year.

Does your company subscribe to any on-line news or information services :

Purpose : The question was asked to find out the potential of on-line services in the corporate world.

Result :

Response	Number of companies	percentage
yes	4	8
no	46	92
Total	50	100

Comments : Only 8% of the companies use on-line news services with all of them using Reuters service.

Please circle the appropriate number to highlight the level of availability, where 1 is shortage and 5 is (abundance) excess, of the following :

(I) Trained information technology staff for your department.

Purpose : The level of confidence of the IT managers on their staff was measured through this question.

Result :

Level of availability	number of companies	percentage
one	0	0
two	5	10
three	13	26
four	23	46
five	9	18
Total	50	100

Comments : Majority(64%) of the IT managers have a fair degree of confidence on their employees.

Please circle the appropriate number to highlight the level of availability, where 1 is shortage and 5 is (abundance) excess, of the following :

(II) Appropriate equipment for your needs.

Purpose : The equipment quality and the level of satisfaction was measured with the help of this question.

Result :

Level of availability	Number of companies	percentage
one	0	0
two	0	0
three	10	20
four	31	42
five	9	18
Total	50	100

Comment : Majority (60%) of the managers are satisfied with their equipment.

Please circle the appropriate number to highlight the level of availability, where 1 is shortage and 5 is (abundance) excess, of the following :

(III) After sales and software support services.

Purpose : The current status of the sales and software support services by the vendors in the information industry was measured by this question.

Result :

Level of availability	Number of companies	percentage
one	0	0
two	5	10
three	23	46
four	20	40
five	2	4
Total	50	100

Comment : Majority (46%) of the managers rated the after sales and support services as average.

Please circle the appropriate number to highlight the level of availability, where 1 is shortage and 5 is (abundance) excess, of the following :

(IV) Training and development resources

Purpose : The question determined the level of satisfaction of the IT managers on their company’s training and development resources.

Result :

Level of availability	Number of companies	percentage
one	3	6
two	8	16
three	4	8
four	28	56
five	7	14
Total	50	100

Comment : Majority (56%) of the managers rank their training facilities above average.

Please circle the appropriate number to highlight the level of availability, where 1 is shortage and 5 is (abundance) excess, of the following :

(V) Quality networking or IT consultants.

Purpose : The question measured the satisfaction with the networking facilities of the IT consultants.

Result :

Level of availability	Number of companies	percentage
one	8	17.39
two	5	10.87
three	13	28.26
four	12	26.09
five	8	17.39
Total	46	100

Comment : Only 92% of the mangers responded to this question and out of those 29% rated the services as three while 27% rated them as four.

Please circle the appropriate number to highlight the level of availability, where 1 is shortage and 5 is (abundance) excess, of the following :

(VI) Bandwidth

Purpose : The question was asked to find out if the managers are satisfied with their bandwidth available.

Result :

Level of availability	Number of companies	percentage
one	4	12.5
two	0	0
three	13	40.63
four	15	46.88
five	0	0
Total	32	100

Comment : Only 64% of the managers responded to this question and out of those 41% ranked it three while 47% ranked it at four.

What kinds of services would you like to see being offered by vendors in the information industry in:
Products
Services
Training

Purpose : The question was asked to find out the services that the multinationals want from the local infomation technology vendors.

Results :

Products	Number of managers	Percentage
Communication equip.	12	24
High speed lines	25	50
Software development	10	20
Other	3	6
Total	50	100

Comment : 50 % of the respondents demanded high speed lines by the Internet service providers.

What kinds of services would you like to see being offered by vendors in the information industry in:
Products
Services
Training

Purpose : The question was asked to find out the services that the multinationals want from the local infomation technology vendors.

Results :

Services	Number of companies	Percentage
After sales	23	46
Trained consultants	15	30
Product informatioin	10	20
Other	2	4
Total	50	100

Comments : The managers emphasised the importance of afgter sales service with 46 % of the respondents saying that after sales szervice was desired by the local information industry vendors.

What kinds of services would you like to see being offered by vendors in the information industry in:
Products
Services
Training

Purpose : The question was asked to find out the services that the multinationals want from the local infomation technology vendors.

Results :

Services	Number of companies	Percentage
Local training	27	54.00
Qualified Specialists	14	28.00
Up-to-date Knowledge	6	12.00
Other	3	6.00
Total	50	100

Comments : Majority (54%) of the managers desired more local training from the local information industry vendors.

Which of the following sources do you use for your planning? (You can tick more than one).

Purpose : The question was asked to determine the major factor on which the organization develops its plans for the IT department.

Results :

Sources	Number of companies	percentage
Guidelines from overseas headquarters	43	51.19
Local consultants in Pakistan	20	23.81
Technology vendors in Pakistan	15	17.86
Engineering/Industry associations	3	3.57
others (self-reliant)	3	3.57
Total	84	100