Implementation of a Customer Services Information Systems Strategy in a Higher Education Context - An Integrative Perspective

Higher education institutions (HEIs) in the United Kingdom are undergoing strategic changes, not least being the introduction of a new fees scheme and the identification of information and communication technologies (ICTs) as central to their strategic vision. However, little is known about the contexts and processes of formulating and implementing information systems strategy to support university “customer” and “user” communities. This paper investigates the process of customer service strategy implementation as at GM University using an integrated perspective that conceptualizes the implementation process as a network formation, interconnected with both the strategy context and content. Our theoretical framework draws on both “contextualism” and actor network theory to understand the IS strategy implementation process. We demonstrate that IS strategy implementation is an emergent and dynamic process. Our conceptual framework provides us with an insight into the process of implementation that transcends the human strategic agency to the “collective” transformation process.