The Use of Information Technology as a Facilitator of Business Process Re-engineering: the Case of Bidco Oil Refineries Limited

Abstract

In the past, companies used information technology to mechanize the way they did their business. The existing processes were kept intact and computers were used simply to speed them up. But as Reynolds (1995) observes, the mere automation of ineffective processes cannot eliminate their fundamental performance deficiencies. Many of today’s job designs, workflows, control mechanisms and organizational structures were developed in the early 1950’s, a period with a very different competitive environment and before the advent of the computer. These processes were geared mainly to efficiency and control.