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CHAPTER 9. DEVELOPING BUSINESS/IT STRATEGIES. IT Planning. Planning an information system doesn’t start with bits, and bytes, or a Web site. It starts with gaining a holistic perspective on what the firm aims to achieve and how it will do so.
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CHAPTER 9 DEVELOPING BUSINESS/IT STRATEGIES
IT Planning • Planning an information system doesn’t start with bits, and bytes, or a Web site. • It starts with gaining a holistic perspective on what the firm aims to achieve and how it will do so. • IT planning is one of the most challenging and difficult tasks facing all of management. • Improving the planning process for IS has long been one of the top concerns of ISD management.
IT Planning • Deciding which new systems to build should be an essential component of the organizational planning process. • Organizations need to develop an information systems plan that supports their overall business plan.
IT Planning • The major information systems planning issues are: • Strategy development • Resource management • Technology architecture
Strategy development • IT planning begins with the strategic plan of the organization. • IS applications and business strategies that fit the priorities established by the organization should be identified. • The organization's strategic plan states the firm’s overall mission. • IS plan should be aligned to organizational strategies and goals.
Strategy development • To accomplish this alignment, the organizations must do the following: • Set the IT mission • Asses the environment • Assess existing systems availabilities • Set IT objectives, strategies and policies • Asses organizational objectives and strategies.
Resource management • Optimal allocation of IS resources among competing organizational units is difficult. • This stage consists of developing hardware, software, data communications personnel plans. • It also provides the framework for technology and labor procurement.
Technology architecture • It refers to the overall structure of all information systems in an organization. • Technology architecture includes infrastructure such as the databases, supporting software, and networks. • An IT architecture consists of the combination of hardware, software, data, personnel and telecommunications elements within an organization, along with procedures to employ them. • An IT architecture specifies the technological and organizational infrastructure that physically implements an information architecture.
The IS operational Plan • The IS strategic plan leads to the IS operational plan. • It is a clear set of projects that will be executed by the IS departments and by functional area managers in support of the IS strategic plan.
The IS operational Plan • A typical IS plan contains the following elements: • Mission : The mission of the IS function. • IS environment: A summary of the information needs of the functional areas and of the organization as a whole. • Objectives of the IS function: The IS function’s current best estimate of its goals. • Constraints on the IS function: Technological, financial, and personnel. • Long-term systems needs: A summary of the systems needed by the company and the IS projects selected to reach organizational goals • Short-range plan: An inventory of present projects, and a detailed plan of projects to be developed or continued during the current year.
Implementing IT Planning • Planning IT is followed by implementation. • After planning IT, you need to implement, that is you do what you planned to do. • Implementation is the process of converting from the old system to the new system. • The effect of major changes in key organizational structures, managerial roles, employee work assignments are needed to be managed.
Implementing IT Planning • The management face some kind of problems when they want to implement a new IT strategy/system such as TQM, BPR, CRM, etc. • There might be a resistance by the people. • They can afraid of losing their jobs or they might think that new technology replace with themselves or they will insufficient to implement new technology. • They may not get involved in implementing stage.
Implementing IT Planning • What can managers do about this problem? • Training is one of the key solutions. • If they are involved in developing and planning stage of IT strategy, a resistance might be weak. • In some companies, end users become one of the systems development teams because of this reason. • User involvement in the design and operation of IS has several positive results.
Change Management • Companies use change management tactics to reduce end user resistance. • Change management involves identifying and analyzing all changes facing the organization and developing programs to reduce risks and costs and to max the benefits of change. • A very large percentage of information systems fail to deliver benefits or to solve the problems for which they were intended because the process of organizational change surrounding system-building was not properly addressed. • Successful systems-building requires careful change management.