An IT strategy focused on maintaining a cutting-edge technology position - Essay Example

?Introduction The alignment of IT and business strategy of the firm is considered as one of the most important challenges for the managers. Without this alignment of both the strategies, it is relatively impossible for the firms to actually ensure that they retain and develop cutting edge technologies to help them stay ahead of the game. It is argued that any firm which is just viewing technology as a mere tool to support the business processes may no longer continue to dominate the market. It is critical for the modern firms to actually develop the efficient IT infrastructure in order to ensure that they can actually leverage their overall business strategy. Without having access to the better IT technology, it is relatively impossible for the firms to continue to dominate the market. It has also been argued that those firms which initially focused upon perfecting their IT technology and making it more effective grew faster than the firms which initially focused upon the alignment of their IT and business strategy. This line of thinking therefore suggests that it is important to compromise on the alignment of the IT and business technology if the firm is actually able to first effectively improve its technology. One way or other, it is really important that without having cutting edge technology, it would be really ineffective for the firm to support the overall business strategy of the firm. This paper will therefore argue that without having access to the cutting edge technology, it may be entirely difficult for the firms to support their overall business strategy. IT Strategy The technology strategy of a firm is typically related with the development of tactics and tools related with the use of information technology within the firm. The critical focus of such strategy always remains on the acquisition and development of strategies which can allow the firms to develop their competitive advantage out of the information technology. It is however, important to understand that this strategy must also be leveraged through the people as without effective and efficient human resource, the firm may not be able to translate this strategy into a successful strategy. Traditional view of how technology should be utilized and how the technology strategy can actually be designed is based upon how effectively it can support the overall business strategy of the firm. One of the concerns has also been focused upon the optimization of the firm’s spending on the information technology. This line of thinking therefore often compromises the way IT can actually provide the real benefits to the firm. Over the period of time, it has been therefore argued that the overall business strategy should be the driving force for the IT strategy of the firm. This has however, been without the assessment that poor technology can actually fail to support the overall business strategy of the firm. It is therefore important first to ensure a seamless integration and alignment of both the IT and business strategy of the firm with each other. Access to the cutting edge technology It is argued that the access to the cutting edge technology as well as its effective deployment by the organization is necessary in order to allow the firms to better understand their market. The market insight and analytic abilities provided by the cutting edge latest technology therefore allow the firms to not only better understand themselves but also better design and develop their strategies which can suit to the market where they are operating. One of the key aspects of having access to the latest technology is to gain the competitive intelligence allowing firms to better leverage their business strategy. Developing the capability of competitive intelligence can only be possible with the help of having access to the cutting edge technology. Old and outdated technologies may lack the capability to provide the same level of analytic insight to help firms to actually have a re-look at their business strategy for adjustment purposes. (Albescu, Pugna, & Paraschiv, 2011) It is therefore critically important that development and execution of the IT strategy should be done in a manner which is focused upon having access to the cutting edge technology. Any IT strategy which is just focused upon ensuring that it supports the business processes of the firm as a tool only may not result into the competitive advantage for the firm. As such the strategy should be focused upon having access to the resources to procure and deploy cutting edge technology. Conclusion Traditionally it has been observed that IT strategy was formulated in order to use the technology as a tool to support the business processes. Access to cutting edge and latest technology however, can allow the firm to actually gain much needed market insight into the way competition is behaving as well as how the consumers are reacting to different market moves. It is therefore important that the IT strategy of the firm must be focused upon the development of cutting edge technologies to allow the firm to take advantage of the market changes. If the focus is not on developing cutting edge technologies, it may be possible that the overall business strategy of the firm may fail to produce desired results. Bibliography Albescu, F., Pugna, I., & Paraschiv, D. (2011). BUSINESS COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE –THE ULTIMATE USE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES IN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT. Retrieved November 06, 2011, from The Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies: http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan-v-sri-lanka-2011/engine/current/match/530426.html Alignment of IT and Business Strategy Introduction Organizations increasingly find it difficult to align their business and IT strategies together because of the lack of understanding each other. Though apparently business strategy of the firm seem to be a dominating factor which derives the firm’s IT strategy however, it is important that IT strategy of the firm must also hold important significance. The resources which business strategy can provide to the IT strategy of the firm therefore are considered as essential for ensuring that both the strategies actually align with each other seamlessly. In this part of the paper, the alignment of IT and Business Strategy of the firm will be discussed. The alignment of IT and business strategy of the firm is often considered as a desired state where the use of IT for the firm is of optimal manner. This alignment between the two strategies often results into the better and improved financial performance as well as the market competitiveness. Alignment therefore is often considered as the capacity to demonstrate that a positive relationship between the firm’s IT and its business strategy which can be translated into acceptable financial performance. (Grembergen & Haes, 2009) One of the key reasons for this non-alignment between the two is the relative gap between the overall thinking and mindset of people dealing with the IT and business side of the firm. The lack of understanding both sides of the coin therefore often results into a mismatch and hence firms often fail to really capitalize upon their strengths. (Gartlan & Shanks, 2007) What is however, important to understand that this alignment will not be possible and firm’s IT strategy will not be able to support the business strategy of the firm if the firm does not have any access towards the cutting edge technology. Without having access to the technology which really matters, firms often fail to achieve the desired results. For example, Nokia has dominated the mobile handset market for years however its inability or reluctance to rely upon old technology has created market space for the companies like Apple and Samsung to actually tap into the smartphones market. Nokia relied on its old Symbian operating system while other firms rolled out better technology to capture the market. Conclusion Effectively business strategy therefore must focus upon creating an environment where the IT of the firm can develop the capability to procure and deploy the cutting edge technology. Both therefore can be considered as the two sides of the same coin and the failure of anyone can effectively result into the systematic and gradual failure of the firm over the long run. A firm’s IT and business strategies are considered as two sides of the same coin as both seem to corroborate with other to provide the firm a combined advantage over the competition. It is therefore really important that overall alignment between both the strategies must be ensured as if both the strategies are not aligned, it may not be possible for the firm to fully take advantage of its resources. References Gartlan, J., & Shanks, G. (2007). The Alignment of Business and Information Technology Strategy in Australia. Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 14(2), 7-16. Grembergen, W. V., & Haes, S. (2009). Enterprise Governance of IT: Achieving Strategic Alignment and Value. London: Springer. Read More