IT Strategy Higher Education Institutions - Research Paper Example

 IT Strategy Higher Education Institutions 1. Introduction IT Strategy always plays a key role in developing a competitive market for the particular product. Different organizations use different tools and ways to develop and implement IT strategy. Not only the companies but also the educational institutions have now been giving significant importance to the implementation of IT strategy in the organizational/ institutional structure(Morrison,1998)In order to improve efficiency companies as well as educational institutions require to continuously updating their technical expertise so the competition can be sustained in the market.(Foster, Susan, David &Hollowell, 1999) One of the most important factors that should be considered in using IT tools is the specified or targeted strategy, which should be carefully designed so it can come out with desired results. The research paper is focused on one academic enterpriseknown as Angelo State University and its recently adopted Competitive Information Technology Strategies.The paper is also focused on the degree to which this university relies on its implemented IT strategies. The paper describes the benefits and techniques by which the information technology could be brought in use by ASU. Along with that there was an in depth analysis conducted of various strategies that would or could be utilized by various types of enterprises. All of this analysis of course would be affected by the amount of resources an enterprise could bring on the table. The paper focuses on the current state of the IT strategyinAngelo State University along with the recommendations regarding what changes can be made to improve the its IT strategy. 1.1) Objective of Research Theobjectives of the research are as follows 1. Analyze the importance of IT strategy for anenterprise by evaluating the case of ASU. 2. Evaluate the IT strategy of the organization under consideration such as ASUto determine its reliance on IT 3. Identify, is there any requirement for new or improve IT strategy for the organization under consideration 1.2) Scope of research The research paper is designed to help IT consultants, Organizations and educational IT researchers to help evaluate the importance of IT strategy for the enterprise. 1.3) Limitations of Research One of the most important limitations of conducting such kind of technical research is the limited time frame in which the researcher has to sacrifice the quality of in-depth analysis. Moreover, the technical guidelines regarding the implemented IT strategies within the organization are not easily available to public. 1.4) Delimitation of Research The delimitation of the research work is that the literature on the IT strategies can help the researcher to develop cognizant regarding the different IT strategies that should be incorporated in the academic enterprises. 2. Benefits of IT Information technology is a broader concept. It can be defined in a way that the technical expertise, which are involved in the management of information(Nana,2009).In the competitive environment informational efficiency has profound impact on the profitability of the business. Strong technical expertise in dealing with the business process efficiency leads to stronger the competitive advantage for the company. Therefore, information technology has significant importance at the entrepreneurial level (Pieterson, 2009). There are different benefits of information technology at the entrepreneuriallevel; some of them are as follows The Information technology helps in creating the globalized business by incorporating the efficient enterprise resource planning system. The real time dissemination of relevant information within organization improves the efficiency of the business. The business communication system becomes cheaper, quick and efficient. Different departments of the organizations as well as educational institutions are linked with the centralized system of business process (Katz, 1999). The level of security within the system depends upon the organizations. If the company has established the strong checks within the organization then only relevant information can be accessed to the relevant personnel but if there are no firewalls then all the employees can easily access all the information regarding the business process. Cost efficiency is one of the most important and significant factors that can be achieved with the help of implementation of strong IT strategy within the organization. The cost efficiency can be achieved if directional strategy is implemented with the predefined objectives of the organization. The working hours can be increased and the business can provide 24/7 services through online activities without the requirement of physical presence of key business personnel The risk of loss can be mitigated with the help of implementing highly efficient IT strategy. The risk control methods can be improved with the help of implementing relevant and directional IT strategy. 3. Difficulties in Implementing IT Strategy The information technology is highly technical and requires highly professional, experienced and technical experts to design and implement relevant information technology strategy for the business under consideration(Ringle &Updegrove, 1998). Some of the common challenges and difficulties which can be faced by an enterprise to implement IT strategy are as follows 3.1 Understanding business need The most important consideration or difficulty in implementing the IT Strategy is to develop and understanding regarding the business need of the IT strategy. It can be explained in a way that the manufacturing concern business requires its supply chain management function to be smoothen and generate production efficiency so the company can create competitive advantage by quickly penetrating in the market. Now the IT need of the manufacturing concern business is to implement strong ERP (enterprise resource planning system) that can provide centralized business process and the access can be given to all the relevant personnel to quickly respond to the information. People processes and technology are the mainstream tools that IT oriented enterprises continue to follow. Looking at the case of Angelo State University, they incorporate these three (people, processes and technology) in such a combination that ensures maximum benefit for their organization. These benefits include streamlining the processes and the top most process that IT can deliver to an organization such as the ASU is to provide information in a timely manner. The important question is why is it so important for an academic enterprise to incorporate IT strategies? The logic is an obvious one, an academic enterprise is also a business and like any other business, it needs to hire the right people and retain more students, IT strategies make it possible for them. 3.2 Changing the Mindset of the Old Employees Most of the old employees, which are involved in typical assignments throughout their professional life and feel hard to learn new technology, so in that case the implementation of the IT strategy becomes a complicated task. New technology implementation requires the new work environment and new way of doing business. Therefore if the new technology is implemented without changing the mind frame of the old employees, which are considered as the key employees because of their high level of experience, can make the IT strategy ineffective. 3.3 Difficulty In Cost-Benefit Analysis Another important consideration while implementing the IT strategy is the difficulty inconducting the cost benefit analysis for the business regarding the IT strategy. The main reason for this part to be difficult during implementation of the strategy is the consideration of opportunity cost, which would be created by implementing the IT strategy. For example, the implementation of IT strategy for any kind of business requires significant cash flows. If the same cash flows are kept in the bank or invested somewhere else it would also generate some profit. The value or rate of that profit must also be incorporated in the cost-benefit analysis of the business and use the net gain or loss to value the strategy. 3.4 Difficulty In Conducting trainings As mentioned above that the old employees may not want the business to bring about the implementation of IT strategy. One of the major reasons is that they are required to be trained for the new business or IT Strategy. Training all the departments or relevant departments is a long and cumbersome task. For example, incorporating the IT strategy in automating the production process for the manufacturing concern business requires an in-depth analysis and understanding of the whole production process. In addition to this, the value chain model should be carefully studied and understood by the IT experts. 4. Various IT strategies There could be various techniques which could be utilized by the enterprises in order to implement a successful strategy (Hong, 2009). Information technology assisted techniques have various forms; it could be used for planning, mapping, and developing of strategic analysis of different extents such as PESTEL, SWOT analysis, Simulation, multiple regression analysis. These techniques if applied manually, would add nothing to the value of the enterprise. 5. Analysis of Enterprise Strategy The enterprise selected for the IT strategy is Angelo State University. This section of the paper covers the current ITstrategy of the ASU, Its dependency on IT and what steps can be taken to improve its IT strategy. The section begins with the introduction of the university. 5.1 Introduction of Angelo State University Founded in 1928, Angelo State Universityis the member of Texas Tech University System. As a significant contributor to the society, it offers undergraduate and graduate programs in disciplines such as sciences, liberal arts and professional disciplines. The university is career oriented and to stay on top of its deliverance streak, she needs to have distinct integration of research, teaching, services, creative and co-curricular activities (“ASU facts”, 2011). The introduction alone is significant enough to point out why IT strategies are so important for this academic enterprise. 5.2 Current IT Strategy Angelo State University The objective for implementing IT strategy in the university is to develop a vision for technology. This involves receiving feedback from students and faculty members on current processes. One major aspect of a successful IT strategy in an academic (as well as any enterprise) is to identify new opportunities, and analyzing students’ feedback does that for ASU. 5.2 Development In IT strategy of Angelo State University Before developing a successful IT strategy, it would be helpful to consider the goals of the university, also known as the ‘mission’. The objective of the university is to provide reliable, secure, useful information resources that empower the generation, the information (knowledge base) that provides the students with the tools to establish themselves in the society as productive community members. To achieve these goals, there is a certain set of rules and guidelines that the university administration needs to follow. They need to stay customer focused Need prompt and reliable newsfeed from campus information technology systems Innovation lies at the core of IT strategy Updates to the existing IT strategy 5.3 Analysis Of Alignment Of Enterprise Strategy and IT strategy Following
are the Information
Technology
Goals
that align
and
support
the
Strategic
Plan of Angelo
State University, they compose of the
Academic
Master
Plan, Campus
Centennial
Master
Plan and the
Texas
Tech
University
System
Level
plan. These plans also take into account the state level plans as defined
by
the
Department
of
Information
Resources.

 Goal
A: (Integration
&
Access) 
 This revolves around the ability and capability if the university to plan and deliver integrated information available for the customers when they need it and where they need it. Goal
B: (Service
Delivery) The Information Technology needs to meet or exceed customer requirements.
 Goal
C: (Improve
&
Streamline) This is one of the most crucial goals to be able to stay in the competition and involves continuous leveraging of existing, potential and innovative technologies. This goal is important because it enhances and streamlines business activities. Goal
D: (Privacy
&
Security) One of the major issues with implementing IT strategies is to ensure their security and privacy. Hacking or information breach can cause serious damage to an enterprise that keeps its assets in binary codes (computer language). That is why ASU has set their fourth goal to ensure integrity and privacy (ASU Information Technology, n.d.). 5.4 Process Of Collaboration And Working With C-level Executives The C-level Executives refers to the top level executive with C-titles, such as CEO, CFO, CIO etc. (Catwrite, 2002). The enhancement of currently implemented flexible production system of Angelo State University requires the top level executives to clearly deal and identify the core areas of information delivery process, and need continuous improvement. The flexible production process needs collaboration with the whole business process. If the IT implementation is in line with the whole business process then the strategy can be fulfilled. Therefore, the collaboration of the different departments of the organization for the business process is an important factor for the successful implementation of the IT Strategy. The collaboration among different departments can be achieved if the C-level executives can work closely together and encourage the implementation of the strategy. 5.5 Assessment of the Change Management Plan The assessment of change management plan involves the evaluation of the newly proposed strategy for the purpose of the implementation of the strategy at the enterprise level and IT-level(Owen, 2004). The newly proposed strategy requires the collaboration of all the departments of Angelo State University along with their key faculty. The plan should be implemented from the top to the bottom of the hierarchy. Therefore, the change management plan should be carefully implemented by taking into consideration the each part of production process along with its alignment with the enterprise strategy so the IT strategy can be implemented more effectively and the change management can give successful results. 5.6 Plan For Risk Management In the Enterprise The university has to face different risk factors that must be considered while implementing the IT strategy at the enterprise level. The major risk involved in the IT implementation strategy is the technical feasibility of the newly proposed strategy. The risk is that the strategy may look good on papers but may not be technically feasible after implementation. The plan to mitigate the risk of loss due to unachievable technical feasibility is that to conduct test run for the newly proposes strategy. The advantage of test run is that to evaluate whether the newly proposed IT strategy suits the organization in terms of implementation and cost effectiveness or not. At the moment Angelo State University has an automated risk management system to track/document the risk. If any amendments are made to this system, a test run is inevitable. 5.7 Analysis of Alignment Between Risk Management Plan & IT Strategy The best way to achieve the alignment between risk management plan and IT strategy is to make RamPort a unified approach for all electronic communications in ASU. RamPort is a system that combines together many systems (for better efficiency) and promptly provides information to ASU customers. 5.8 Role Of IT Leadership In IT Strategy The IT leadership always plays a pivotal role for any organization IT Strategies. The IT leaders can mitigate risk by evaluating and understanding all the key areas of business. The risk can also be mitigated by working closely or collaborating with other key executives. The IT strategy cannot be formulated without the help of IT leaders in the organization. Therefore strong IT leadership with sound experience, qualification and technical grip is required. 5.9 Cost Effective Strategy The implementation of flexible production system refers to creation of cost efficiency(Oberlin, 1996).Enterprises that had implemented Cost effective strategy would prefer the use of more simple, generic and easy to understand technological systems. As it suits the enterprise or business strategy because most of their operations are focused on the control of the cost which could be achieved by reducing the fixed cost and replacing the manual controls with the information technology support systems. The ASU can create the cost effective IT strategy by improving the information availability and reducing their reliance on conventional modes of electronic communication and make everything mobile. 5.10 Differentiation Strategy Differentiation strategy when opted by some enterprise it would go for the technologies that would be different and advanced from their competitors and would therefore bring a competitive advantage to the enterprise but this competition proves to be unhealthy in the case of various large establishments(Rocheleau, 1996). But there are also some benefits to this strategy which are the continuous development of the technology and strategies, human resource development and contribution to the nation GDP.Angelo State University hasa unique strategy of implementing flexible and customer oriented information system. 5.11 Product Differentiation Product differentiation is a strategy which, when is opted by the enterprise is there to develop a niche’ market of their own. These enterprises had, and focus, on a specific group or section of the market. Here the development in the technologies is according to the whims of the customers as these enterprises only represent a fraction of the total market. This strategy proves to be very costly in the beginning but very lucrative when the niche market had been developed, that’s why enterprises in which opt these strategies had a continuous stream of revenues in the mature phase of the business cycle. The ASU has created the product differentiation by inculcating RamPort and VoIP (Voice over IP). Effective communication allows the university to implement collaboration suites (Exchange). Conclusion IT strategy has always been an integral part of all types of enterprises. The academic enterpriseslike the Angelo State University require significant level of IT implementation because of its large customer base, which needs to be fully automated to provide the cost efficient and differentiated information system. Therefore, the whole research paper can be concluded in a way that the IT strategy has significant importance for all kinds of businesses but the direction and strategy of IT implementation may differ depending on the type of organization and the industry. List of References ASU facts. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.angelo.edu/asu_facts/ ASU information technology strategic plan. Published manuscript, Information Technology, . Backos, J. Y., & Treacy, M. E. (1986 ). Information technology and corporate strategy. MIS Quarterly, 107-109. Catwrite, C. A. (2002). Today’s CIO: Leader, manager and member of the "Executive Orchestra", EDUCAUSE Review. Foster, Susan,David, Hollowell, (1999). Integrating information technology planning & funding at the institutional level:: Jossy Bass Publishers Hong, E. K., (2009). Information technology strategic planning, IT Pro. 8-15 Katz R. N. (1999), Competitivestrategy for higher education in the information age, Educom Review Morrison, J. L., (1998).The role of technology in education today and tomorrow: An interview with Kenneth Green, part 2. New York: Free Press Oberlin, J. L. (1996). The financial methodology of information technology: Developing anew game plan. Cause/Effect. 10-17 Owen, P. S. (2004). Change dynamics and leadership in technology implementation. The Journal of Higher Education, 75(6) Ringle, M.& Updegrove, D., (1998). Is strategic planning for technology an oxymoron?. Cause/Effect, 21, 18-23. Rocheleau, B. (1996). Structures, plans, and policies: Do they make a difference? An initial assessment. Cause/Effect Pieterson, M. (2009, October 7). Modern Ghana. Retrieved from http://www.modernghana.com/news/242392/1/benefits-of-it-information-technology-in-modern-da.html Read More