International journal of Innovative Research in Management ISSN 2319 – 6912 (June 2013, issue 2 volume 6) 1 The Role of Information Technology on Banking Service Delivery: A Perspective from Customers in Ghana Kwabena Obiri-Yeboah 1 * Roderick Kyere-Djan 2 Kwame Owusu Kwarteng 3 Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Private Mail Bag, Kumasi, Ghana Abstract Commercial banks and most rural banks in Ghana have aligned IT with their business processes. The study evaluates the types of technological facilities used by bank customers, the benefit of technology and its challenges to customers. In order to achieve this, a mixed method approach was used to collect data using structured and semi-structured questionnaires. The results indicate that IT facilities used most by customers are ATM, Internet banking, and Electronic Fund Transfer at Point of Sale. ATM, direct deposit, withdrawal services and branch networking were the facilities that were highly used and offered by all the banks. The introduction of IT services by the banks has positively impacted the rate at which customers’ visits banking halls and services received. How much knowledge customers had about the services affected the number of times they would use the service as well as the number of times they visited the banking halls. Some of the challenges encountered by customers are: low knowledge in using technology facilities, Internet connectivity problems, challenges posed by internet fraud and IT avoids personal interaction, making it difficult to get instant solutions to problems. The study recommends that there should be periodic educational campaigns about the technological facilities and their usage by the banks to promote customer patronage. The ATM machine should be monitored always to make sure it has the capacity to provide its 24/7 service as expected of it. Key words: Information Technology; Banking; Service delivery; IT facilities 1. Introduction Technological innovations have transformed most industrial sectors, especially due to the evolution of information-based technologies. In banking services, due to the role of banks as information-based and its role in gathering and analyzing information, technology has made a lot of impact on banking services. Information Technology consist of all hardware and software that a firm needs to use in order to achieve its business objectives. It can therefore be explain in business context as “a set of interrelated components that collect (or retrieve), store, and distribute information to support decision making and control in an organization” (Laudon and Laudon, 2010). Information Technology (IT) has been defined by Ige (1995) as the modern handling of information by electronic means, which involves its access, storage, processing, transportation or transfer and delivery. Langdon and Langdon, (2006) also define IT as a set of interrelated components that collect (or remove), process, store and distribute information to support decision making, coordination and control. Technology banking is defined as the automated delivery of new and traditional banking products and services directly to customers through electronic, interactive communication channels (Sathye, 1999). Technology banking also includes all the systems that enable financial institution and customers to access accounts, transact business, obtain information on financial products and services by technological means.Laudon and Laudon, (1991) contend that managers cannot ignore Information Systems because they play a critical role in contemporary organisation. In present day banking, total automation of banking operations is an imperative need for all banks to attract more customers, provide efficient and quality services, and survive in the