IT Development And Strategy - Essay Example

IT Development And Strategy 1. Discuss the role of IT in the firm as defined by the enterprise position on the strategic quadrant? As information technology is becoming ubiquitous in the workplace, its utilities in managing transactions, processing and disseminating information (Applegate, Austin, Soule 2009, p. 423), has been well realized by organizations. With changing uncertain external environments and the increasing dependence on IT for the growth and sustenance of an organization, IT plays a central role in helping the organization obtain a competitive advantage. Now, firms are increasingly using IT leadership in order to enhance their position in the industry. A critical aspect of the role of IT in the workplace includes the business implications of IT application portfolio, which describes the degree to which IT applications and systems are seminal for the preservation of enterprise processes (Applegate, Austin, Soule 2009, p. 423). Given the importance of IT systems in the sustainable working of enterprise operations, organizations have recognized the need to implement IT innovations into their processes so as to allow efficiency and inventiveness, thereby earning the organization a benefit. In particular, IT is extremely important for those organizations that rely on IT for sustainability of their business operations and their ability to transform. Such firms are normally found in the strategic quadrant (Applegate, Austin, Soule 2009, p. 425). Many successful organizations exemplify a close link between IT development and strategy where IT leadership greatly impacts the decision making processes of the management regarding investments, governance, and so on. In many other organizations solely rely on technological innovations in IT in order to gain a competitive advantage in the growingly competitive external environment. Thus, organizations are integrating inventive IT with business processes (Applegate, Austin, Soule 2009, p. 426) in order to measure and analyze data to identify opportunities, and seek those opportunities by incorporating them as part of their business strategies. By doing so, organizations aim to have greater efficiency in their operations, to obtain a competitive advantage, and hence gain success. 2. Describe ways of managing transition in the support, turnaround, factory, and strategic quadrants? Transitions in the role of IT are crucial to enabling organizations to evolve in their reliance on IT for sustainable business processes. Various factors that are derived from within the environment or outside promote the assimilation of IT with business processes for greater efficiency, etc, thereby prompting the transformation in the role from support to turnaround to factory and to strategic quadrant. Usually these triggers are received from the environment and the changing trends in time, which also explains why several firms solely relying on IT for support services began incorporating IT to provide other services to their global consumers (Applegate, Austin, Soule 2009, p. 426). A shift to the turnaround quadrant is often characterized by a need to identify IT as an opportunity in order to usefully utilize insightful data analytics to change strategies thereby gaining an advantage. Organizations that base heavily on their factory processes also find IT integration quite helpful in helping them optimize their uptimes. By doing so, they try to circumvent serious downtimes, of which even the slightest, costs a huge amount to any particular organizations (Applegate, Austin, Soule 2009, p. 427). That is why organizations use IT systems in order to prevent significant downtimes to keep their factory operations running smoothly and efficiently. This demonstrates a shift from turnaround to factory quadrant. As markets began expanding further, managers and executives became increasingly interested in obtaining quick information that would enable them to perform better, penetrate further markets, grow their market shares, and so on. Thus, managers have a continuous challenge to sense the uncertain external environment in order to identify opportunities from the changing technological trends and undergo a transition to a new quadrant. 3. Recognize the executive/innovation tension that exists in business enterprises? Although transitions between the various quadrants are a quite common phenomenon in such temporary times, however, the role shift of IT should be accompanied by a focus by the organizational management into the matter. In such cases, what the organizational leadership addresses is the elementary tensions that are associated with the shifts in the role of IT within the firm processes and operations (Applegate, Austin, Soule 2009, p. 428). As the business environment is becoming increasingly changeable and competition is getting fierce, organizations are attaching great important to greater innovation and development. Since IT closely impacts innovational developments, organizations also recognize its importance to creative ideas and innovative technologies. Despite the realization of its positive impacts on innovation, many factors are involved in determining whether IT is implemented and executed. These include the perceived role of IT in enhancing company operations and the management’s eagerness and risk appetite. Those managements, which have perceived an impactful role of IT in operational workings and have a high risk appetite, will be more willing to implement such IT systems that may enhance business processes. Investments in IT is dependent on the management’s willingness to take risk and the mental evaluation they have of the ability of information technology to help them achieve their strategic goals (Applegate, Austin, Soule 2009, p. 429). Thus, investments in IT are more likely to come from an organizational leadership that feels that IT will have a great impact on their ability to achieve their strategic objectives and are therefore willing to take the risk. 4. Compare the drivers of IT dominance vs. the drivers of user dominance? IT has been identified as an important driver of economic value by impacting the business model (Applegate, Austin, Soule 2009, p. 120). While IT is perceived as affecting the business value, it is important to consider the nature of their assessment of IT as enhancing their business strategies. A company having merely realized the helpful nature of IT will be less likely to invest in IT infrastructure than a company that has a high sense of IT impact. Several questions face the organizational leadership and management so as to analyze the impact of IT in the new business model characterized by a need to incorporate IT into their business systems. Such questions address the ability of IT to address issues such as cost, value, efficiency, sustainable advantage, and so on (Applegate, Austin, Soule 2009, p. 106-115). Performance has always been a key measure of an organization’s success and form an integral part of the new business model symbolized by superior IT infrastructures. While the drivers of IT dominance focus on the helpful impact of IT infrastructure on company objectives, drivers of users dominance are more user centered than company oriented. Drivers of user dominance are more consumer oriented and focus on the customer perspective of incorporating IT systems. These drivers tend to focus on the customer convenience such as providing efficient services, 24/7 availability, quicker access to products in the market, cash reduction, and so on. Such measures employ information technology in order to provide better and faster service to their consumers which help them generate higher revenues. These in turn help to achieve organizational goals in terms of market shares and are determinants of organizational performance and success. 5. Define the responsibilities of management, IT, and the user in a successful relationship? A successful relationship involves close linkage between the three key players: management, IT, and the user. An important role is played by both management and IT in developing strategies that aim at enhancing the customer experience of their products or services. And indeed IT infrastructure is also essential in helping create a framework which itself helps an organization to deliver the best to their customers. Today the delivery of IT services is carried out by a variety of service providers that work collaboratively in order to provide best service. In such cases, IT managers take on an important role as they coordinate tasks and manage the relationships between the different players (Applegate, Austin, Soule 2009, p. 286). While contract administration is an important aspect of service delivery, successful relationship management goes beyond just contract administration. Management of the varied IT infrastructure resulting transforming models is also important as diverse service clients are used. Thus, in order to root out the complexities or manage it well is an essential part of relationship management as well. References Applegate, L., Austin, R., & Soule, D. (2009). Corporate Information Strategy and Management: Text and Cases. (8th ed., p. 00). Boston, Mass.: McGraw-Hill. Read More