Strategic use of EDI in the public sector: the HMSO case study

There has been widespread academic discussion in recent years on the potential of information systems to provide organisations with a strategic advantage. To this debate has recently been added a further controversy, i.e. the extent to which information systems (EDI in particular) and the concept of business network redesign are compatible. The aim of this paper is to contribute to these debates, by arguing that the implementation of EDI may still provide strategic advantage to an organisation, but is dependent upon the industry sector in which the organisation is operating, its position within that sector, the dynamics of the market place, its ability to build on its existing strengths and its ability to exploit the available technology innovatively. Support for these arguments is provided by documenting the case of Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO), where the implementation of EDI has resulted in financial gains estimated at between pound 5 million and pound 10 million per annum since 1993. This has been achieved through the integration of EDI with the corporate strategy and results from a process re-design programme reflecting the changing environment of the British public sector. The paper also explores how the traditional role of EDI as a document exchange system has been extended to that of systems' integrator and corporate change agent, thus facilitating future business and technical change requirements. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.