Abstract
The initial orientation of resilience emanates from nature and the complex
ecosystem in which it operates. The information systems (IS) discipline inherently
concerns complex systems within socio-technical environments with
symbiotic assimilation of social and technological elements. However, current
views of IS resilience are underpinned through conceptual and theoretical lenses,
which raises the question of the practical implementation of realising IS resilience.
This research focuses on illuminating the operationalisation of IS resilience
and determining good practices for realising IS resilience. The study adopted a
multiple case study approach involving two financial service organisations. Interviews
and document analysis were used to gather data regarding resilience approaches
and practices. The data were aggregated, themed and compared to elucidate
the IS approaches and practices. The findings show that the organisations
use various methods to look at systems resilience, of which SRE, ITIL, Agile,
DevOps, and elements of project management are foremost. Research shows that
organisations need an overarching conceptual model for driving system resilience
activities. Our findings show that no single conceptual model drives system resilience
approaches across the South African financial services sector or even
within a single organisation. Furthermore, the findings provide a practical view
of the approaches and practices adopted to realise IS resilience within the financial
services industry. Future research should examine how SRE, ITIL, Agile,
DevOps, and project management can be used together to discover the most beneficial
resilience outcomes.