Evolution Stages in Web Applications

Abstract

Among the many important contributions that information technology (IT) applications provide to organizations, Internet based applications may be considered the most important for strategic purposes, according to different authors like Porter (2001). Initially, companies tried many different alternatives for using the great potential of the Web and a great number of completely new businesses that were enabled by the new technology. However, there were many failures (not only successes) and the situation has changed since the late 1990s. Thus, the time of experimentation is over and a business-oriented approach is required (Chen & Tan, 2004; Souitaris & Cohen, 2003). The Internet has indeed represented an opportunity, if properly used, for small and for big enterprises anywhere in the world (Drew, 2003; Kula & Tatoglu, 2003; Wresch, 2003). This article describes the initial steps of an ongoing research that intends to compare the phases of Web dissemination in organizations with the adoption stages of traditional computer systems, based on Nolan’s six stage model (Nolan, 1979). This approach could help describe and predict the integration of WWW into the work of organizations as well as provide a basis for improving management policies and decisions (Laurindo, Carvalho, & Shimizu, 2003). Nolan’s model (Nolan, 1979) is still an important and widespread known reference. In 1977, ARPANet (the network that gave origin to the Internet) had only 107 hosts (Ruthfield, 1995). This number increased to 317 million of hosts in January of 2005 (ISC, 2005). This article is based in secondary data collection, some interviews with professionals from companies present on the Web, research on Web sites, in addition to a bibliography about the issue.