This study investigates the success factors of business intelligence (BI) systems across three employment groups in South Africa. The three categories of employment groups are: top management, middle management, and operational staff. Based on a review of literature grounded on the DeLone and McLean model, a research model was proposed. This study hypothesized that information quality, system quality, service quality, user quality, user satisfaction, and individual impact are factors that might contribute to the success of BI systems among the different employment groups in South Africa. The proposed model was validated using responses taken from 211 BI users. The managerial implications of the findings are that differentiated BI implementation strategies aimed at specific employment groups might improve success rates, as opposed to a single broad‑brush strategy for all end users. The paper concludes by discussing the limitations of the study, which should be addressed in future research.

For years software developers globally have struggled in their attempts to deliver high quality software products. In an effort to overcome the problem, there is a widely held view that people, process maturity and technology are the main determinants of software quality and information systems (IS) success. The researcher conducted a survey in Canada among software developers, which confirmed the notion that people, process maturity and technology are determinants of software quality and also that software quality and user perception are determinants of information systems success. In an attempt to gain deeper insights, a series of interviews were conducted among Canadian developers to identify other contributing factors to software quality and information systems success. The interviews revealed that organization climate, user training and education, expectation management and technical support can influence the quality and success of the delivered software product. Such insights can enhance the competitiveness of these firms.