Advantages of New IT Management - Research Paper Example

? IT governance Number: Lecturer: Pros and cons of the current system The current system where there is a hierarchical type of management is useful and has some advantages. One of the advantages is that there is central management of the services. With this system, all tasks are managed under one person and that manager will understand the working and the issues that arise with the management. The IT leaders that are found in these setups are experts in IT and will know all the technical details. These are information technology experts who have a clear understanding of the improvements they are required to undertake. They understand the metrics of the business they operate in. With this knowledge they are able to improve the performance of the business. They are continually looking for business solutions from a technology perspective (Bloem, Doorn, & Mittal, 2005). In this regard, the CIO is expected to provide these solutions so that the business is seen to improve. They engage data mining techniques to get the information required to improve the data. They are seen to be business catalysts. They are helping the businesses to make money out of these decisions. The decisions they make are valued by management. They bring about major revolutions. They are included in very crucial management meetings of the company. Management makes use of these CIOs to improve the line of business seen to bring the expected targets. These CIOs are common in industries where competition is so high. They help to bring innovation in the company so that they remain ahead of competition. Disadvantages One disadvantage with this setup of that there is a lack of coordination between the various IT services. There is no integration of technology in business. This is because there is a lot of autonomy in undertaking the business. This hinders the successful integration of technology and business. Advantages of new IT management The new model helps integrate IT and business. Technology today is one of the most pillars of business. For any business to succeed, they have to be using the most advanced technologies. Today, it is not the size of the market that matters in business, rather, it is the technologies that are used that matter. The best businesses are the ones which use efficient technologies to remain ahead of the competition. The changes that are experienced today are seen in the role that Chief Information Officers (CIOs) are having. CIOs are from time to time asked to evaluate the role that IT plays in an organization. As technology becomes a very important and integral part of any business, the role of the CIO becomes very crucial by the day; these officers become business leaders of any type. Their main role is to transform the IT function from the traditional role which was expected to make things work faster in an organization with an international strategic function. The CIO is being asked to look for more strategic solutions that will make the business ahead of the competition. Another advantage is that organizations are getting all the reason to align their IT functions with the objectives of the business. Most managers ask the CIO to give a justification of the technology investments that the company makes and then deliver on the benefits that they have promised will be achieved. There is globalization that is being realized in organizations today, thus bringing changes to the role in which the CIO plays in the company further. When combined with technology, globalization is making the business to scale great heights. With this trend, organizations are no longer limited by distance. The companies which are leaders in their field of operation are swiftly moving so fast to take the full advantage of the benefits that come with technology. These changes are making the role of the CIO and the information technicians change. It will bring changes and transformation in the way processes are undertaken. Information technology has the power of changing the normal operation of any business. They also have the power to change the business is perceived. Many successful companies are already making maximum use of this power. They are getting optimal results out of this. They are ahead of the competition because they realized that information technology can be used to optimize business operations (Baschab, & Piot, 2007). There are new ways of thinking business processes, new ways of operations, and new management processes that are being applied in business today. There are new way of building business infrastructures and product portfolios, and above all there is the realization of exceptional results in all these. The role of the chief information officer is changing from technical business to management of knowledge. The success of any company is hinged on knowledge management that chief information officers are finding this in their new job description. Although this is a new role in the executive management, it is becoming an important one for that (Lane, 2004). There is a need to have tactics to combat the competition. This new role seems to be focusing on implementing specific rules rather than implementing long-term, technologies for the organization. Instead of days of yonder where the chief information officers were required to implement long term strategies for the organization, this is changing fast. Many researches have shown that chief information officers are being diverted from long-term implementation to fire-fighting projects in the quest to solve some business issues that face the organization from time to time. The vision of the IT function is limited and has been static for a long time. In fact, there are calls to make it expand. The role of knowledge management in an organization is known to all the executive officers and thus including this to IT function will not be a difficult task for the management. Knowledge management is recognized as a very vital component of strategic planning. This new function will have an impact on the future training and recruitment of chief information officers (Stenzel et al., 2010). Disadvantages There are disadvantages that come with this new model of IT service management. With this model, there is lack of specialization. This is because there is no hierarchy. It discourages the development of talent and specialization in IT. Preference I agree with what is being advocated in this case. This is because with this model, there is good integration of business and technology. Reference Baschab, J., & Piot, J. (2007). The executive guide to information technology. NY: John Wiley and Sons. Bloem, J., Doorn, M., & Mittal, P. (2005). Making IT governance work in a Sarbanes-Oxley world. NY: John Wiley and Sons. Lane, Dean (2004). CIO wisdom: Best practices from silicon valley are leading IT experts. NY: Prentice Hall. Stenzel, J., Cokins, G., Flemming, B., Hill, A., Hugos, M., Niven, P., Stratton, A., & Schubert, K. (2010). CIO best practices: Enabling strategic value information technology. NY: John Wiley and Sons. Read More