Strategic Role of Global Information Systems in Organizations - Coursework Example

Strategic Role of Global Information Systems in Organizations The emergence of the internet has greatly influenced how business is conducted. Global business has grown tremendously due to the contribution of the internet (Drucker, &Maciariello, 2008). This can be greatly attributed to the development of information systems. Information systems consist of hardware and software systems that support data applications for business enterprises. Different models, programming languages and algorithms are used in development of information systems. For firms, adoption of information systems requires investment resources such as time and personnel (King, 2009). Organizations in different industries always strive to be market leaders in their respective market segments. Where the business environment consists of inflation, recession and tough operating conditions, businesses opt for strategies aimed at gaining a competitive edge over their competitors (Drucker, &Maciariello, 2008).Among these strategies can be the one that enables adoption of an information system by a firm. The system enables the organization make optimum use of its data, cut down on costs and increases efficiency.Information systems store and analyze data faster and in a more secure manner unlike the outdated manual way of data handling. Hardcopy management of data and records is no longer in use. Today, most companies opt for sophisticated databases that store data in any format, be it text, image or video files, update the data as well analyze the data at the click of a mouse (Drucker, &Maciariello, 2008). Through faster analysis of data, quicker solutions to present and future problems are easily determined. Another role of information systems is that of assisting in the decision making process (King, 2009). Success for an enterprise depends upon the strategic plans a firm adopts. The management of a firm uses management information systems to come up with strategic plans for the continued success of the firm (King, 2009). Information systems also play a role in the development of business processes that aim at adding value to a firm’s operations. Continuous business process remodeling is necessary for enhancing the quality of a firm’s products as well as cost minimization. Global information systems are basically information systems designed for the global market. Global information systems are more developed to cater for specific world markets and attempt to deliver functionality to a firm within the context of the whole world (Laudon, &Laudon, 2002). With global information systems, focus is on the global setting, in a wider scope largely translating to distributed systems. Software’s for these systems are developed with the concept of global (Laudon, &Laudon, 2002). Design for these systems concern process flow in the systems, architecture as mechanisms for supporting the functions of the system. Information systems are composed are composed of information technology, business applications, development processes of the systems, foundation concepts as well as management challenges (Taylor, 2004). Information technology comprises of hardware software, data, networks and other technologies. System development processes concerns how the systems are developed and implemented. Foundation concepts are about technical and business concepts concerning components and functioning of the system (Sarngadharan&Minimol, 2010). Managerial challenges on information systems on the other hand concern how the management of functions of information system componentsachieve optimum performance. Management issues in planning for information systems In planning for a global information system, the management team carries out a comprehensive analysis of how the firm’s business operations are conducted. This analysis will determine whether or not adoption of an information system will be of benefit to the firm (Sarngadharan & Minimol, 2010). When a firm operates globally, the scenario in the different markets is almost similar but differs in terms of individual markets having differing ways of conducting their operations. For a global firm operating in a number of markets, adoption of a single strategy for implementation of the information system may not be successful (Sarngadharan & Minimol, 2010). To avoid failure of the system and strategy, the management team looks at the information system from the concept of stand-alonecomponents and then merges these systems under a single information system covering all its operations. For firms operating in the global market, individual enterprises that make up the global operations have their individual finance, accounting and other departments. These departments may replicate across markets and therefore developing an information system to cover all enterprises in the operations is feasible and necessary (Laudon, & Laudon, 2002) in an effort of standardizing operations and minimizing duplication of operations. The main reason for developing and adoption of a global information system will be gaining competitive advantage and this is achieved through management of knowledge and resources of the firm, planning a strategic framework and adopting it, improving on supply chain operations as well as maintaining healthy working relationships with stakeholders (Flug & Watkins, 2004). Planning for a global information system is usually the hardest part in the strategy formulation. The management team has to embed to tiny details the operations of the business with the functionality of the systems. This process is necessary if the system is to cater to the strategic role of a business strategy as well as the demand of serving the overall objective of the business(King, 2009). A global information system is meant to give the business firm a competitive advantage and meet the firm’s data processing and management information system needs(Laudon, & Laudon, 2002). Key to the strategy is the fact that information systems with respect to global systems are not primarily meant for cost reduction but aimed at value addition. The systems are not meant at merely automating business operations but the main focus here is remodeling business process in order to achieve value addition. An information system strategy from a global perspective relates to investment in time and other resources, from development to deployment. The role of management in planning for such a system concerns how the system will support the organization’s overall business strategy (Flug & Watkins, 2004). The global strategy acts as the blue print for mapping out the direction a firm takes to achieve success. Information system in essence consists of how the organization manages the planning phase, design, development and deployment of its service provision systems. In planning for a global Information system, the management has to understand that the system will involve the technical and human aspect of the organizations operations (Flug & Watkins, 2004). These core areas will describe what business functions this system will cater for. Planning for an information system will start with the management team of that respective organization identifying the specific needs of the organization that can be effectively solved by the system (Sarngadharan & Minimol, 2010). This system has to provide a basis for future growth to the firm. It is necessary to base development of the system on computer based current technology on a response to need process.This process of planning is strategic management planning and needs formalization in terms of coming up with objectives of the strategy as well as resources for implementation. The planning process identifies future projects and prioritizes the projects according to resources required and constraints involved in implementation, constraints such as time and/or resources. Planning for the system should be detailed enough to provide for specific application for specific functions (Sarngadharan & Minimol, 2010). Management issues in designing a global information systems Strategic role of global information system with reference to management issues in designing such a strategy has various issues involved. According to Laudon, & Laudon (2002), strategies are meant at providing a basis for future success to a firm. For a case of a global information system, this comes toan organizationin terms of investment of resources in the systems. Management issues in designing an information system relates to the social technical model of the system as well as the information systems cycle (Laudon, & Laudon, 2002). The social technical aspect relating to the information system’sintegration of internal and external factors affect the designs of thesystem as well as adoption, implementation, planning and eventual success of a strategy. The strategic role of global information systems is providing a basis for future success to a business. To a large extent, global information systems are composed mainlyof integrated globally located systems networked and supporting users in the different regions of the globe. These systems usually are concerned with supporting the business overall business strategy by giving the business operations a sense of drive (Taylor, 2004). Global information systems need a lot of management’s input in design as this enables the system to integrate the functions of the business with the corporate strategy. While the actual architecture is left to the programmers, overall design of the system is left to the managers who understand best what areas of the business are core to future success of the enterprise(Taylor, 2004). To achieve its role, a global information system has to give the organization a competitive advantage over its competitors (Drucker, &Maciariello, 2008). This is only possible however, if the managers are able to marry the functions of the system with the strategy of the business. The system also has to be designed in a manner that gives the organization an edge in pursuing opportunities existing in the industry (Drucker, & Maciariello, 2008). This form of guidance can only come from the direction on the designing of the system by the management team. This system should provide for innovation on various business opportunities on all the levels of employees in the organization, top level management to the lower level business executives. For the successful design of the system, the management has to conduct an analysis on the different components of the systems, mainly hardware, soft wares, people and processes in the business activity that will form part of the processes of the system (Sarngadharan & Minimol, 2010). The internal business factors are compared against broader business influences, mostly external factors that limit or favor the operations of the firm’s operations to bring about the design of what the system should be like from the perspective of the management. This design has to be incorporated into the business strategy as well. Information as an asset is valuable and requires adequate management via relevant information systems to create opportunities in tomorrow’s opportunities (Sarngadharan & Minimol, 2010). Management issues in leading a globalinformation system Strategy Global information systems have emerged out of the globalization of how business is conducted (Drucker, & Maciariello, 2008). Global information systems have brought out new ways of doing business globally as well as remodeling existing business operations (Sarngadharan & Minimol, 2010). Global information systems cover various forms of business such as joint ventures and therefore the information systems need to be developed to support these functions. Global information systems differ in a number of ways from information systems, one of the differences being the global orientation. In leading a global information system, the management team looks at issues such as culture and legal frameworks which directly affect successful implementation of these systems. Adoption of global systems will at times result to emergence of new information processes and structures in management that were nonexistent before and therefore in leading the strategy , an effect of how the new technologies will impact on business processes has to be studied. Global information systems have become embedded with corporate strategy and the two complement one another(Sarngadharan & Minimol, 2010). Of interest to top management will be how to combine the two to ensure success of business strategy. Leading such a strategy will require oversight of what the future global market hold for the business as well as the necessary precautions to take in order to avoid failure of the strategy (Laudon, & Laudon, 2002). In conclusion, information systems play a critical role in the day to day operations of an organization. From the introduction to deployment of information systems, operational costs have done down while productivity of and output has increased in quality as well as quantity (Drucker, &Maciariello, 2008). Information systems are investments core to success of an enterprise. Firms need to invest in good quality information systems whose components work seamlessly together(Laudon, & Laudon, 2002). This is necessary where a firm needs to remain relevant in the market in the middle of robust competition and the ever changing business environment of today. In the context of the global arena, the business operating conditions are different. Here a firm has to create value addition on its processes (Laudon, &Laudon, 2002). Business process remodeling is necessary as a measure of ensuring value addition Global information systems come in to give an enterprise the ability to create and sustain competitive advantage over its competitors as well as the much value addition. Planning and designing globally oriented systems has to include the input of the management in designing functionalities of a system that will integrate with the business operations (Sarngadharan & Minimol, 2010). This is essential in ensuring that the roles of a global information system of value creation as well as competitive advantage are realized. References Drucker, P. F., & Maciariello, J. A. 2008. Management (Rev. ed.). Collins, New York. Flug, M., Frevert, D. K., & Watkins, D. W. (2004).Watershed management 2000 watershed management and operations management 2000. American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, Va. King, W. R. 2009. Planning for information systems. M.E. Sharpe, Armonk. Laudon, K. C., &Laudon, J. P. 2002. Management information systems: managing the digital firm (7th ed.). Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J. Sarngadharan, M., &Minimol, M. C. 2010.Management information system (Rev. ed.). Himalaya Pub. House, Mumbai. Taylor, J. 2004. Managing information technology projects applying project management strategies to software, hardware, and integration initiatives. American Management Association, New York. Read More