Crisis Management & Information Technology

Abstract: Information technology has become an important part of the business world. IT isinvolved in communication and business processes across departments making theuses dependant on the technology to perform their work. In this thesis the authors arefocusing on how companies prepare themselves for crisis that can affect informationtechnology within the businesses, and what types of crisis they are worrying about. Toanswer these questions a theoretical framework is formulated by reviewing acollection of crisis management literature. The theory is later compared withempirical findings to reveal differences and similarities. The empirical work is basedon interviews with four managers that work with IT and is involved in the crisismanagement process. Three international enterprises with head offices in the Öresundregion participate.The findings in this research show that the differences between theoretical andempirical work is limited, and the similarities are many. Both explains that gatheringexperts and decision-makers in a crisis management team that can point out possiblecritical scenarios and construct action-plans, is a key part of crisis preparation.Alternative ways of communication must be prepared, and user training help thepeople involved feel safe and know what to do when a critical situation occurs. Allplans and responsibilities must be reviewed frequently so that they always are up-todate,old plans are of little help. Crisis preparation has to be motivated. It takes timeand is costly.The second part of the thesis looks at what kind of IT related crisis companies’worries about. This includes loss of communication such as email and intranet, failureof advanced information systems like ERP, and threats from malware and hackers.But the all agree that the biggest threat comes from inside the companies – theemployees. Big resources are therefore spent on making the IT users more concernedabout safer usage of company technology.This research contributes to the field of crisis management and shows that thegrowing usage of information technology in businesses demands focus. Preparationand planning is the first step in avoiding a crisis from happening.