Planning for IS applications: a practical, information theoretical method and case study in mobile financial services

We use information theory to justify use of a method to help managers better understand what new IT applications and features will be most valued by users and why and then apply this method in a case study involving the development of financial service applications for mobile devices. We review five methods for data gathering, analysis, modeling, and decision-making and compare them with information processing methods for IS planning. Then we develop an IS planning method, an extended version of 'critical success chains' (CSC), that supports five of six of the identified information processing needs. We use this method in a project to develop ideas for mobile financial services applications at Digia, a Finland-based R&D firm. We select a group of experts and potential early adopting users. In structured individual interviews, we ask why participants prefer particular specific features the participant would expect to be part of an application. We record this data as linked chains connecting features with consequential performance and with the perceived value of such performance. The data is analyzed across participants to create network models of features, performance, and values. We conduct an ideation workshop with Digia engineers and executives to generate ideas for new systems based on the CSC models. Workshop participants created back-of-the-envelope level ideas for three new applications and business models to show graphically the flow of information, value, and revenue among parties involved in producing and using the applications. We conclude by comparing the extended CSC and other IS planning methods in terms of information theory and the information processing needs for IS planning. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.