End-user computing: are you a leader or a laggard
Sloan Management Review
The management of end user computing
Communications of the ACM
An investigation of the information center from the user's perspective
ACM SIGMIS Database
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End user computing, whether on terminals or microcomputers, has created a need for training in the use of information technology, for controlling access to corporate data, for the preservation of corporate information integrity and compatibility, and for mediation between MIS/DP and other departments.Information centers, the formal corporate response to those needs, continue to grow in number and cost. An initial cost about $75,000 and support a staff of about 7 people is common. The cost, in both dollars and personnel, is a continuing concern to management. End user computing will probably soon consume the majority of corporate information budgets; perhaps as much as 70% by 1990.The question is whether ICs can avoid becoming obstacles to the tasks for which they were created. If information centers themselves become too costly and clumsy, they will become more of a burden than an advantage to their organizations.The solution is to distribute expertise about information systems throughout the organization. This report suggests that the way to do that is by distributing the “process” of distribution, partly by the use of key end users, and partially by leveraging expertise about the technology by use of the technology itself.Experts cannot be copied, but expertise can. The leveraging of human expertise is just now beginning to be realized.As ICs evolve from simple advice and training centers, or repositories of information, to centers for information about information, the key will be in the distribution of the distribution process itself.