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.