Excerpt from Case Study :

Furuholt, (2006) argues that lack of management engagement to the acceptance of information systems has been a barrier to the implementation of information systems. The issues are even common with organizations in the developing countries where management does not give enough priority to the information systems implementation. Importantly, implementation of information systems requires management support since management will need to approve fund that would be used for IS implementation. Generally, younger people are more interested in the it tools than older people. In a situation where number of older working team outnumbers younger working team within an organization, the IS implementation may be cumbersome. More importantly, lack of knowledge of information systems may serve as barrier to its implementation. In the developed countries, private and public organizations have already aware the importance of information systems to the organizations. Many organizations in developed countries already realize that it tool is a strategic weapon that organizations employ to achieve competitive advantages. "Organizations investing in information technology (it) over the past decades have categorically seen the uses of it change. At one point, it was considered a key strategic tool to gain competitive advantage." (Knight & Radosevich 2011 P. 1).

Contrarily, many public and private organizations in developing countries have yet to understand the importance of information systems. Typically, management in developing countries still lack knowledge on the importance of information systems to the organizational performances. (Wilson, 991). Based on the identification of barriers to the implementation of information systems, there are issues that need to be considered before embarking on the implementation of information systems.

General issues affecting IS adoption and implementation

The most important issue affecting the implementation of information systems is finance. Furuholt, (2006) argue that finance is very critical for the successful implementation of information systems. In many developing countries, poor management of country resources often has impact on the implementation of information systems. Moreover, efficient organizational structure is very critical to the implementation of information systems. More importantly, skilled and efficient personnel are very important in the implementation of information systems. Typically, it tools are to be run by people skilled in it and management. Organization needs to be manned with articulate people versatile in management technique to achieve IS success. Poor organizational management is one the critical factor that could affect the IS implementation. If an organization is managed by incompetent group of personnel, the IS implementation will be problematic.

Similar to other developing countries, there are many factors affecting the information systems implementation in Libya.

Factors affecting Information systems implementation in Libya

"E-Government services represent a fundamental shift in the design and methods of government efficiency, accountability and commitment" (Ali, 2010 P. 5) and Libya is one of the few African countries that have adopted the e-Government to achieve government efficiencies. Despite the effort of the Libyan government in the e-Government implementation, Libya is facing unique challenges with reference to the implementation of information systems which include the e-Government, e-learning, e-commerce, and ERP (Enterprises Resources Planning). Typically, "people, skills, knowledge, innovation, leadership, technology and others are an integral part of successful business and government institutions." (Ali, 2010 P14). However, the country often lacks sufficient infrastructure, expertise and resources to implement the large scale project on e-Government services.

Moreover, a large number of Libyan populations have little contact with internet and computer making the successful implementation of e-government to be cumbersome. Similar to other government around the quality of the services rendered to people. Despite the Libyan government intention to implement e-government services, the transformation from the traditional to e-Government service is a complex issue because its implementation touches cultural, political, and technical aspects. Typically, there is a lack of new technology awareness in Libya making adoption of e-Government services to be challenging. In 2005, Libyan government launched its first official government website to provide information about the legislative laws and government activities, however, majority of Libyan residents do not understand the method to use internet to interact with government and as well as conducting e-commerce. Many people in Libya have little contact with computer since large number of population does not possess computer skills. Moreover, cultural challenges are another factor affecting the implementation of information systems in Libya. Many people and government workers are still unable to change from the tradition habit to modern habit of conducting businesses. Since large percentages of population do not posses computer skills, it is often challenging to change people from using manual method of processing information to modern ICT method. Typically, implementation of e-Government is challenging in Libya because internet access costs is very high. Compared to other countries that offer internet services almost free, in Libya, the internet service providers do not often get the government support to offer large internet bandwidth making the internet costs to be very high. Thus, Libya does not have a reliable telecommunication tool making large-scale implementation of information systems in the country to be challenging. (Hamed, 2009).

Conclusion

Businesses and governments in both developed and developing countries are putting critical information online as well as using automating process to interact electronically with customers and citizens. However, the private businesses often take the lead because the world economy is gradually changing from tangible to intangible assets. The proposal focuses on the strategies to manage information systems in developing countries notably Libya. The paper explores the challenges that developing countries face in the IS implementation. The paper also examines the factors affecting IS implementation in Libya.