A Multiple Case Study on Integrating IT Infrastructures in the Public Domain

Local Government Authorities (LGAs) are complex organisations whose heterogeneous operational structures can be greatly enhanced by effectively using of Information Technology (IT) to support improvements in the quality of services offered to citizens. While the benefits of IT cannot be disputed, there are several concerns about its success as LGAs are confronted with the challenges of synchronising their cross-departmental business processes and integrating autonomous IS. This article examines a potentially important area of IT infrastructure integration in LGAs through Enterprise Application Integration (EAI). The adoption of EAI solutions is a burgeoning phenomenon across several private and public organisations. Nevertheless, where EAI has added efficacy to the IT infrastructures in the private domain, LGAs have also been slow in adopting cost-effective EAI solutions. The shortage of research studies on EAI adoption in LGAs presents a knowledge gap that needs to be plugged. The research methodology followed consisted of an in-depth analysis of two case studies by using the research tools of interviews, observation and referring to archival documents. This research is timely as the demand for integrated service delivery increases, the issues of harmonising business processes and integrating IS becomes pertinent. The conclusion and lessons that can be learnt from this research is that integrating IT infrastructures through EAI achieves significant efficiency in delivering end-to-end integrated electronic Government (e-Government) services.