Advantages

• Frees IS resources for higher priority projects
• May help reduce the hidden backlog
• Faster design/implementation cycle
• More acceptable to users
• Reduces communications problems between users and IS
• Encourages innovation and creative solutions

Disadvantages

• Duplication or effort and waste of resources
• Greatly increased costs
• Loss of control over data
• Loss of control of quality in both programs and data
• Incompatibles prevent sharing
• Can be used to circumvent control processes, such as the steering committee
• Generally produces narrow, inflexible systems with short lives