1. Developing Business/IT Strategies
Chapter 11
Developing Business/IT Strategies
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. Learning Objectives
Discuss the role of planning in the business use of information technology, using the scenario approach and planning for competitive advantage as examples
Discuss the role of planning and business models in the development of business/IT strategies, architectures, and applications
Identify several change management solutions for end user resistance to the implementation of new IT-based business strategies and applications
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3. Planning Fundamentals
Information technology has created a seismic shift in the way companies do business
Just knowing the importance and structure of e-business is not enough
You must create and implement an action plan that allows you to make the transition from an old business design to a new e-business design
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4. Case 1: Forrester, NMSU, Exante Financial Services, and Others
The alignment between business and IT strategy is crucial to business success; sometimes it is IT that makes it happen.
For most CIOs, putting together an IT strategic plan which helps to improve the business-IT relationship is very important.
Businesses may not have a clear strategy or they may have some strategies, but they may not apply to all the business activities taking place.
IT can help the business articulate how IT fits into business and influence overall business strategy.
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5. Case Study Questions
Consider statements made in the case about business often not having an overarching business strategy that can serve as guidance for the development of a strategy for IT. How is it possible that companies get by without some sort of stable and clear direction? What does this tell you about the business and industry environment in which they operate?
Dave Aron of Gartner notes that in some cases the lack of clear business strategy provides an opportunity for IT leaders to step in and help articulate it and the role IT will play in the new strategy. This sounds like a good thing for IT people. What is the downside of being in this situation?
Why do you think IT’s success is dependent on the overall business strategy of an organization? Why must they be tied together? Provide several reasons.
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6. Components of Organizational Planning
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7. Planning Strategic Planning Tactical Planning Operational Planning
Deals with the development of an organization’s mission, goals, strategies, and policies
Begins with strategic visioning questions
Tactical Planning
The setting of objectives and the development of procedures, rules, schedules, and budgets
Operational Planning
Done on a short-term basis to implement and control day-to-day operations
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8. Strategic Visioning Questions
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9. The Scenario Approach
Gaining in popularity as a less formal, but more realistic, strategic planning methodology
Teams of managers and planners participate in microworld or virtual world exercises
Business scenarios are created and evaluated
Alternative scenarios are then created
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10. Trends that Affect Strategic Planning
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11. Planning for Competitive Advantage
Strategic business/IT planning
Involves evaluating the potential benefits and risks of using IT-based strategies and technologies for competitive advantage
The following models can help generate ideas for the strategic use of IT to support initiatives
Competitive forces
Competitive strategies
Value chain
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12. Strategic Opportunities Matrix
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13. SWOT Analysis SWOT stands for
Strengths: a company’s core competencies and resources
Weaknesses: areas of substandard business performance compared to others
Opportunities: potential for new business markets or innovative breakthroughs that might expand current markets
Threats: anything that has the potential for business and market losses
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14. Business Models and Planning
Business model answers vital questions about the fundamental components of a business
Who are our customers?
What do our customers value?
How much will it cost to deliver that value?
How do we make money in this business?
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15. Questions for all Business Models
Customer value
Are we offering something distinctive or at a lower cost than our competitors?
Scope
To which customers is this value being offered?
What range of products/services offered embody this value?
Pricing
How do we price the value?
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16. Questions for all Business Models
Revenue source
Where do the dollars come from? Who pays for what value and when? What are the margins in each market, and what drives them?
What drives value in each source?
Connected activities
What do we have to do to offer this value and when?
How connected are these activities?
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17. Questions for all Business Models
Implementation
What structure, systems, people, and environment do we need to carry out these activities?
What is the fit between them?
Sustainability
What is it about the firm that makes it difficult for other to imitate it?
How do we keep making money?
How do we sustain our competitive advantage?
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18. Questions for all Business Models
Capabilities
What are our capabilities and capabilities gaps?
How do we fill these gaps?
Is there something distinctive about these capabilities that lets us offer the value better than other firms?
Is this capability hard to imitate?
What are the sources of these capabilities?
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19. Questions Specific to E-Business Models
Customer Value
What is it about Internet technologies that allows us to offer customers something distinctive?
Can Internet technologies help us to solve a new set of problems for customers?
Scope
What is the scope of customers that Internet technologies enable us to reach?
Does the Internet alter the product or service mix that embodies the firm’s products?
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20. Questions Specific to E-Business Models
Pricing
How does the Internet make pricing different?
Revenue source
Are revenue sources different with the Internet?
What is new?
Connected activities
How many new activities must be performed as a result of the Internet?
How much better can Internet technologies help us perform existing activities?
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21. Questions Specific to E-Business Models
Implementation
How do Internet technologies affect the strategy, structure, systems, people, and environment of the firm?
Capabilities
What new capabilities do we need?
What is the impact of Internet technologies on existing capabilities?
Sustainability
Do Internet technologies make sustainability easier or more difficult?
How can the firm take advantage of it?
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22. Business Models as Planning Tools
A business model forces rigorously and systematic thinking about the value and viability of business initiatives
The strategic planning process is then used to develop unique business strategies that capitalize on a business model
The goal is to gain a competitive advantage in an industry or marketplace
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23. The Business/IT Planning Process
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24. The Business/IT Planning Process
The business/IT planning process has three major components
Strategic development
Resource management
Technology architecture
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25. Information Technology Architecture
The IT architecture is a conceptual design that includes these major components
Technology platform
Data resources
Application architecture
IT organization
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26. The system has four processes
Balanced Scorecard
The balanced scorecard measures a company’s activities in terms of vision and strategies
The system has four processes
Translating vision into operational goals
Communicating the vision and linking it to individual performance
Business planning
Feedback/learning and strategy adjustment
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27. Balanced Scorecard The business perspectives a scorecard measures
Financial: reflects financial performance, such as cash flow or ROI
Customer: measures having a direct impact on customers, such as time to process phone calls
Business process: reflects the performance of key business processes, such as time spent prospecting or process costs
Learning/growth: the company’s learning curve, such as how many hours are spent training staff
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28. Identifying Business/IT Strategies
The most valuable Internet applications allow companies to
Transcend communication barriers
Establish connections that enhance productivity
Stimulate innovative development
Improve customer relations
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29. Strategic Positioning Matrix
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30. Cost and Efficiency Improvements
Strategic Matrix
Cost and Efficiency Improvements
Use the Internet as a fast, low-cost way to communicate and interact with others
Use of , chat systems, discussion groups, and company websites
Performance Improvement in Effectiveness
Major improvements in business effectiveness recommended
Increase use of Internet-based technologies, such as intranets and extranets
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31. Global Market Penetration
Strategic Strategies
Global Market Penetration
Capitalize on a high degree of customer and competitor connectivity and use of IT
Use e-commerce websites with value-added information services and extensive online customer support
Product and Service Transformation
Develop and deploy new Internet-based products and services that strategically reposition it in the marketplace
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32. E-Business Strategy Examples
Market Creator: be among the first to market and remain ahead of the competition by continuously innovating
Channel Reconfiguration: use the Internet as a new channel to directly access customers, make sales, and fulfill orders
Transaction Intermediary: Use the Internet to process purchases
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33. E-Business Strategy Examples
Infomediary: use the Internet to reduce the search cost; offer a unified process for collecting the information needed to make a large purchase
Self-Service Innovator: provide a comprehensive suite of services that the customer’s employees can use directly
Supply Chain Innovator: use the Internet to streamline supply chain interactions
Channel Mastery: use the Internet as a sales and service channel
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34. Business Application Planning Process
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35. Comparing Planning Approaches
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36. E-Business Architecture Planning
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37. Many companies plan changes very well
Implementation
Many companies plan changes very well
Few manage to convert a plan into action
This is true even if senior management consistently identifies e-business as an area of great opportunity
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38. Case 2: Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Others
Implementing changes needed by new information systems in an organization is very challenging as employees resist change .
Understanding the science behind change and resistance to change can lead to more effective approaches to foster involvement and smooth out transitions to new systems.
One of the biggest mistakes managers make is assuming that everyone is motivated by ambition. Many people are motivated as much or more by the work they do as they are by the opportunity to move up in the hierarchy.
One way to manage change is through education and training. Employees accept change if they are provided proper education and training on the new system that is being implemented.
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39. Case Study Questions
Although a very detailed change proposal may prevent people from making their own connections, as discussed in the case, it may lead others to consider the proposal to be vague and unfinished. How do you balance these two concerns? What guidelines would you use to ensure that you are not veering too far off in either direction?
Kevin Sparks of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City had a difficult time convincing his people of the need for change. What would you have suggested that he should do before you read the case? What about afterwards? How did your recommendations change as a result?
Organizational change goes beyond promotions and the threat of layoffs. What ways other than those discussed in the case would you use to entice people to embrace proposed changes? Provide several suggestions and justify their rationale.
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40. Implementing Information Technology
Many businesses have undergone multiple major reorganization since the early 1980s
Business process reengineering
Installation and upgrades of an ERP system
Upgrading legacy systems to be Y2K compliant
Creating shared service centers
Just-in-time manufacturing
Sales force automation
Contract manufacturing
The introduction of euro currency
E-business is the latest organizational change
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41. Impact and Scope of Implementing IT
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42. Intranet Enterprise Portal Challenges
Security, security, security
Defining the scope and purpose of the portal
Finding the time and the money
Ensuring consistent data quality
Getting employees to use it
Organizing the data
Finding technical expertise
Integrating the pieces
Making it easy to use
Providing all users with access
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43. Enterprise Resource Planning Challenges
Getting end user buy-in
Scheduling/planning
Integrating legacy systems/data
Getting management buy-in
Multiple/international sites and partners
Changing culture and mind-sets
IT training
Getting, keeping IT staff
Moving to a new platform
Performance/system upgrades
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44. End User Resistance and Involvement
Any way of doing things generates some resistance from the people affected
CRM projects have a history of failure
Up to 75 percent of CRM projects fail to meet their objectives
This is often due to sales force automation problems and unaddressed cultural issues
Sales staffs are often resistant to, or fearful of, using CRM systems
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45. Keys to Solving End User Resistance
Keys to solving end user resistance problems
Education and training
End-user involvement in organizational changes and system development
Requiring involvement and commitment of top management and all stakeholders
Systems that inconvenience or frustrate users cannot be effective, no matter how technically elegant or efficient
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46. Obstacles to KM Systems
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47. Change Management
People factors have the highest level of difficulty and the longest time to resolve of any dimension of
change management
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48. Key Dimensions of Change Management
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49. Implementing a new e-business application may involve
Change Management
Implementing a new e-business application may involve
Developing an action plan
Assigning managers as change sponsors
Developing employee change teams
Encouraging open communications and feedback about organizational changes
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50. Change Management Key tactics recommended by change experts
Involve as many people as possible in e-business planning and application development
Make constant change an expected part of the culture
Tell everyone as much as possible about everything, as often as possible, in person
Make liberal use of financial incentives and recognition
Work within the company culture, not around it
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51. A Change Management Process
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52. Avnet Marshall’s Transformation
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53. Case 3: 7-Eleven Japan, Eli Lilly, Mohegan Sun, UPS, Vanguard, Carlson Companies, and Raytheon
7-Eleven blends its IT investments with a range of assertive IT practices and capabilities
Counselor visits to stores twice a week
Delivers of stock three times a day
A transparent information infrastructure that links 70,000 computers at stores, headquarters, and supplier sites
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54. Case 3: 7-Eleven Japan, Eli Lilly, Mohegan Sun, UPS, Vanguard, Carlson Companies, and Raytheon
MIT identified four broad classifications of IT investments that can be managed as a portfolio to minimize business risk and optimize return
Transactional: used to cut costs or increase throughput for the same cost
Informational: provide information for accounting, reporting, compliance, communication, or analysis
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55. Case 3: 7-Eleven Japan, Eli Lilly, Mohegan Sun, UPS, Vanguard, Carlson Companies, and Raytheon
Strategic: used to gain competitive advantage by supporting entry into new markets or by helping to develop new products, services, or business products
Infrastructure: typically aimed at providing a flexible base for future business initiatives or reducing long-term IT costs via consolidation
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56. Case Study Questions
What is the portfolio management approach to IT planning? Use the four classifications of IT investments and examples of companies in this case to illustrate your answer.
What are the keys to 7-Eleven Japan’s great success compared to other retailers in Japan? How does IT support such success? How could 7-Eleven Japan do even better? What role would IT play? Defend your proposal.
Compare the IT portfolio investment approaches of Eli Lilly, Carlson Companies, and Raytheon. What differences in investment approaches and strategies do you find? Which approach do you prefer? Why?
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57. Case 4: Infosys Technologies
Infosys has a long history of trying to leverage knowledge created by its employees for corporate advantage.
The incentive system they created to encourage employees to contribute their knowledge created more problem than the management anticipated.
Eventually Infosys had to change their incentive system.
Knowledge management requires much more than technology.
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58. Case Study Questions
Why do you think the knowledge management system at Infosys faced such serious implementation challenges? Defend your answer with examples from the case.
What steps did the KM group at Infosys take to improve participation in the KM system? Why were some of these initiatives counterproductive? The KM group responded with corrective initiatives. Do you think these will succeed? Why or why not?
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59. Case Study Questions
What change management initiatives should the KM group have initiated at Infosys before attempting to develop and implement knowledge management at the company? Defend your proposals, paying particular attention to the final quote in the case by a long-time KM manager at Infosys.
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