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CCT 355: E-Business Technologies Class 4: IT Strategy and Organizational Dynamics Oct. 1, 2007. Administrivia. Email addresses for quicker turnaround on proposal feedback - all done certainly by next week. Stakeholder Analysis.
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CCT 355: E-Business TechnologiesClass 4: IT Strategy and Organizational DynamicsOct. 1, 2007
Administrivia • Email addresses for quicker turnaround on proposal feedback - all done certainly by next week
Stakeholder Analysis • Who stands to win/lose? Whose interests are compromised by corporate action/inaction? • Suppliers, customers, government, shareholders, managers, “line workers” all have varying interests - failure to consider usually leads to unbalanced system
Open Systems • Inputs - various sources of data/information, human resources, money, tech, raw materials • Outputs - Services/products (and waste/pollution) and feedback • Process - must be designed to deal with available inputs and move to desirable outputs as efficiently as possible
Leverage economies of scale Centralizes technical expertise Clean chain of command Coordination on task problematic Can be inflexible to change Turf wars, “not my department” attitude emerges Functional Hierarchy
Flexible fast response to challenges Greater task-oriented communication and collaboration Downturns in some units don’t spread to others Duplication of resources Less coordination of functional expertise when expertise is spread widely Limited upper management control Decentralized
Less hierarchy and adherence to bureaucratic role Collaboration on shared tasks by design Most flexible Role conflict (is my functional role or my project team more important?) Required coordination can take time - and failure to coordinate can be disastrous Matrix
Value chains • Inbound - coordination of inputs • Operations - coordination of process • Outbound - coordination of outputs • Support - e.g., marketing, sales, service HR, management- not directly related to process, but required to create and maintain organiation
IT-enabled value chain • Logistics/Supply Chain Management • Enterprise Resource Planning • Transaction processing • Customer Relationship Management • Intranet/extranet services • Historically separate, increasingly modular and interdependent
Automation • IT to automate scheduled, simple repetitive tasks • Increases efficiency, reduces human error • Implemented for years in manufacturing and logistics management - increasingly common in knowledge work (e.g., tax preparation) • Examples?
Leveraging data created through informating • “informating” (ugh) creates data footprints that feed SCM, ERP and CRM tools • Digitally based transaction data can inform business and customer trends, feed into supply chain, etc. • Privacy of course a concern - examples?
Competitive Advantage • Transaction vs. resource models of advantage - making transactions as cheap as possible vs. building core competencies (e.g., Wal-mart vs. Google) • IT increasingly not a specialized resource (Carr) - resource distinction limited and fleeting, lack of automation as negative discriminant • Intelligent use of IT, however, can be a resource competency
Questions to consider… • What should be automated? What shouldn’t? • How can a company maximize its use of its data? What operational and ethical considerations exist in doing so? • Is IT a transaction or resource-based competency?
Next Class… • Ch. 5, Tech Guide E (aka appendix.) • Competitive Analysis Proposals Returned - certainly by this point you should have picked and interviewed someone!