ASSESSEMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION ON SERVICE DELIVERY IN DEVELOPMENT BANK OF ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Information technology has a vital role in the progress of development, enhancement of organizational efficiency, better service delivery and information reliability. Development Bank of Ethiopia is a government owned Bank established to play a pivotal role in the country’s economic development through the provision of medium and long term financial support based on the government GTP. In order to fully discharge its responsibilities and play significant role, DBE is expected to be well organized in terms of manpower, finance, organizational structure, creating synergy between core and support units among operat ing units with updated technology. Thus, the Information Technology Service Process has established to avail the appropriate data and information for various units and staff of the Bank at the right time for decision making. It is also responsible to appreciate and support the proper application or use of information technology by the user department and units to fulfill their regular operation of the bank. On the other hand, IT users units of the bank raise issues on the quality and scope of bank’s ITS. Moreover, the NBE‘s supervisory report and bank’s various reports indicate that there are some units which are not sufficiently supported by ITS. In addition to that, some units of the bank indicate that lack or absence of support from the bank’s Information Technology Service as a reason for their operational inefficiency. Therefore the objective of the study is to assess Information Technology Application on service delivery of Development Bank of Ethiopia. To evaluate the service delivery, the researcher has used mixed research method. The research design used in this study involved the use of questionnaire and interview in collecting data from selected management members of the bank. The Samples were selected with non probabilistic method of sampling technique. The population of this study comprised all Information Technology Service (ITS) users units of the bank. While the sample size was fifty seven (57) respondents purposefully selected from Nineteen (19) ITS users units. The data which were collected were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 20. The results of the study indicate that, although there is viii sufficient IT infrastructure, the bank’s ITS is below the expectation in terms of area of coverage, service delivery, user satisfaction, IT resource utilization. Even though, there are some improvements after the implementation of core banking, the bank’s IT service delivery is below expectation. The study discovered that these under performances are the result of lack of skill, knowledge and relevant trainings, lack of motivation, accountability of IT staffs and commitment of leadership, lack of good governance and proper IT management, absence of monitoring and follow up of IT staffs’ performance, lack of awareness to customers and bank units needs and absence of IT strategy in the bank. The existences of low performances in application of IT in the bank have contributed for the overall operational inefficiency throughout the bank especially on IT users units. The study recommends that the bank should identify its units and customer needs, recruit knowledgeable IT staffs, provide effective trainings, install proper monitoring and evaluation system to evaluate IT operation, create strategic partnership with firms having high performing IT culture, review and monitor IT systems and soft ware are up to date, suitable and effective and put in place IT strategy.