THE IMPACT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (I.T) ON THE PERFORMANCE BANKS OF NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Over the years, many innovations have taken place in the world. The most striking and most celebrated is the aspect of information technology. Organisations today are confronted with rapidly changing market condition indicated by high merger rate and strong competitors. Under these conditions, traditional management approaches that focus on financial figures and on centralised, analytical planning methods are considered to be insufficient for effectively steering the organisation in a dynamic environment. Hoffman (2002). Recent management support approaches like balanced score card is aimed at providing a broader view of organisational performance. The role of technology in the “information age” is well recognised by banks, businesses, industries, governments and as such has completely woven in to their organisational structure and strategic planning process. Adeoti, J.O (2005)  Previous research work shows that information technology has become the nervous system of banks today and as such Nigerian banks which do not have the means to deliver banking service online and real-time across all branches within the country and abroad will be termed uncompetitive. The integration of banks structure, business processes and strategies by the use of specialised information technology is considered a vital part of performance management concept. It has to be ensured that, strategic changes trigger modification on the business process level and the supporting information technology, and that innovation on the information system initiates the adjustment of the company strategy. Organisations in the financial sector especially banks strive to achieve creation goals for the benefit of their owners or clients. These goals may be expressed in terms of objectives which include among others, increasing revenue, improving services rendered, expanding the customer base, minimising cost of operations. Nigerian economy yearns for development. Irrespective of the fact that she is blessed with enormous natural resources, she remains one of the poorest countries in the world. Banks today are looked upon as vehicle of change for a much needed economic growth and development as it behoves on banks to develop the most effective means of delivering effective, efficient and quality service that will help drive our awaited economic success. These can be made possible if and only if information technology is properly put to use in the banking sector.

Information technology has been acknowledged as the life wire of banks in the financial sector as it promotes and facilitates the performance of banks in the country. Aregbeshola R.A (2014)  These therefore call for a pre-requisite need to embrace information technology. It is in view of this that this research work attempts to examine the impact of information technology on the performance of banks in Nigeria today.