25 TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INFORMATION SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT (ISD2016 POLAND) 197 Understanding the Characteristics of IT Capability in Delivering a Customer-Focused Strategy: The case of Saudi Bank Ahmed AlHarbi Ahmed2011master@gmail.com Ciara Heavin C.Heavin@ucc.ie Fergal Carton F.Carton@ucc.ie BIS, University of Cork College Cork, Ireland Abstract The rationale is to address the perceived gap in the existing literature by exploring the relationship between information technology capabilities (ITC) and customer-focused strategies (CFS). It is essential to explore how technologies enable organizations to implement strategies through a more interactive approach to their customers. Thus, the research objective seeks to improve the understanding of the relationship between ITC and the organizational goal of achieving a customer-focused strategy. Identifying the characteristics of ITC makes the organization focus on developing these characteristics, which may help to achieve an appropriate level of customer-focused strategies. The analysis of the data collected indicates five major characteristics of ITC.: 1) The fulfilment of business requirements on time, 2) the automation of business processes, 3) supporting business continuity, 4) the integration of multiple business systems and applications, and 5) the availability of timely and correct information. The conclusion summarizes these characteristics in the context of how they might affect a customer-focused strategy. Keywords: IT, capability, characteristics, customer -focused, strategy, Business. 1. Introduction Organizations seek to gather and analyze customers’ needs and experiences in order to implement reactive and proactive activities; thus, they strive to develop superior ITC to interact more efficiently with customers [4], [8]. ITC are associated with positive plans and expansions for organizations, and are a primary indicator of an organization’s capabilities [3], [15]. Therefore, in light of the organization’s needs, the motivation for this study is not only directed toward academic contribution, but also as a practical contribution for organizations, or those interested in similar environments, especially those suffering from continuous customer issues. This study provides organizations with guidelines to improve their understanding of the role of ITC in supporting organizational strategies toward the customer. This paper begins with a synthesis of definitions of ITC and CFS. The first part of this section introduces the emergence and definition of ITC. The second part discusses these statements, in the form of CFS, to be more practical and transparent. In addition, this section introduces the importance of CFS, especially with respect to the power of customers in an organization. Section 3 explains the research approach followed. Sections 4 and 5 discusses the potential characteristics of ITC in delivering CFS. The paper concludes by considering the limitations of this study and opportunities for future research. brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk provided by AIS Electronic Library (AISeL)