Exploring the impacts of electronic imaging on organizational process, structure, and strategy

Although the benefits of electronic imaging (EI) are relatively easy to evaluate at the process level, there is a growing number of case studies suggesting EI also positively impacts many aspects of the organization's structure and strategy. However, these studies fail to identify the procedural, structural, and strategic constructs that are affected by EI. Based on a field study, the paper identifies organization factors that benefit/suffer from the introduction of electronic imaging. It was found that EI, in addition to its primary function of enhancing corporate document management, does have a critical value in supporting the organization structure and strategy to sustain business competitiveness. EI was also found to be a technology enabler that strengthens linkages between business strategies, on the one hand, and structures and processes that implement them, on the other.