Converging end-user and corporate computing

One of the most striking changes in the use of organizational computing in the 1980s was the rise of the phenomenon that has come to be known as end-user computing (EUC). It is suggested that EUC might be the solution for some of the key information system (IS) management issues of the 1970s. In the 1980s, EUC-related issues quickly rose to the top of the list of IS managers' key concerns and there they remained as the decade ended. The purpose of the presented research project was to assess the status of EUC at the beginning of the 1990s and to project future trends in this phenomenon. Motivated by results of a 1980 survey, which ranked EUC as the most critical issue facing IS managers, the Grocery Manufacturers of America (GMA) commissioned a study in 1988 to determine the status and direction of EUC among its 136 member firms. The study was designed, and the questionnaire developed, by the members of the IS Committee of the GMA. The method and results of the study are presented. Although the data in the GMA report are now several years old, informal follow-ups by researchers indicate that, while some of the details have changed slightly, the main messages contained in the data are still valid.