Computer-based information systems (CBIS’s) are critical to an organisations survival in the modern competitive environment. CBIS’s are information systems that make use of information technology in order to create management information (Bocij, et. al., 2008). They help organisations with general activities of gathering, processing, storing, using and distributing information within an organisation. CBIS’s are also critical for conducting e-business activities, making use of IT, especially the internet, to conduct business. The strategic relevance of CBIS’s will first be explored, as well as CBIS’s ability to influence the competitive forces proposed by Porter, and shape the competitive environment. The ability of CBIS’s to support organisations basic strategies to gain a competitive advantage will also be discussed, as well as a critical review of CBI’s relevance to an organisations overall survival.
With the growing pace of technological change, the increasing use of CBIS’s in almost every industry sector demonstrates their growing importance for organisations survival in the current competitive environment. As Feng states, organisations of today need to adjust the way they conduct business to survive, by exploiting the capabilities of both the internet and general ICT facilities (Feng, 2007). CBIS’s can help improve the speed, accuracy and reliability of tasks (Bocij, 2008), as well as provide a form of strategic information systems. A strategic CBIS’s is an information system which is able to change organisational goals, processes, products, services and environmental relationships, in order to help an organisation gain a