Information Systems Management: The Role of the CIO in Organizations - Term Paper Example

THE ROLE OF THE CHIEF INFORMATION SYSTEM (CIO) IS CRITICAL IN MANY ORGANIZATIONS Information technology has radically changed for years and has great impact to the world both in governmental organizations, non governmental organizations and business world. This advancement is seen with the development of high speed as well as large capacity and frequency internet services including the invention and development of wireless system and even much convenient information technology devices. With this advancement, it has turn the world into a global village in which business operations can be done over the internet. It has brought about fast and effective operation management in various organizations. It has enabled information to be passed from one place to another within the shortest time possible. The head of Information System Management is the Chief Information Officer. Chief Information Officer (CIO) This is a very senior person in an organization. The officer must in apposition to direct the goals and objectives of the organization for significant changes to be realized. The organization must have confident on the ability of Chief Information Officer to help in tapping more advanced technologies to accomplish goals and objectives. To help him achieve these goals there should be total quality management where the information officer should work with both the executive members, line mangers and lower rank officers in accomplishing these goals. Responsibilities of Chief Information Officer One of the roles is leadership role. They are supposed to make every stakeholder focused on goals of the organization by clearly getting to know all the corner of the business. He or she should be able to know business environment, who are the competitors; what are in put requirements and the expected out put and where can necessary resources. It is also their role to ensure that they provide advice as well as technical support to other managers how to tap new technologies and issues relating to management. It is also their work to preside over the department by developing well organized structures of governance. With these structures in place there will be smooth flow of operations. They are also supposed to attend meetings and read business publications which are educative. They also have to ensure that new information technology structural design are not only developed but also maintained for the accomplishment of set goals and objectives. There is also the empowerment responsibility in which they are suppose to put in extra effort in terms of human and economic resources to figure up the information technology system. For the strategic planning purposes they are supposed to evaluation in terms of expertise if the staffs have the required qualifications. It is also there responsibilities to organize recruitment of new staff as well as training session for development purposes. In the management role they are supposed make very stakeholder have the spirit of hard work by creating a motivating work environment and should work together with other people to revolutionize the information system department. Many have championed to split this department into four because of it broad and complex role. The split was proposed as follow: Chief Information Officer as the head of information system, Chief Technology Officer to head Information Technology planning activities, Chief Operation Officer to head daily information system operations and the Chief Project Officer to be in charge of project management. This is a good proposal because it emphasizes on division of labor and specialization with is health for an Organization. Kinds of IT outsourcing partnerships which are typical IT outsourcing partnerships are classified into four. There is the common one in high developed areas known as web based and e business outsourcing partnership. There is also the application service provider (ASP) which can perform the buying, installation and management of various applications of a firm in a remote data centre and hosting them for clients using broadband. There is also back- sourcing in which after the contract is completed the company recollects the functions and return them home. The last one is IT off-shoring outsourcing partnership. E-Business refers carrying business transactions by use of internet which the most commonly used network. In the case of e-commerce it involve the actual buying and selling of goods and services through internet services. There are several movers that have given directions to the e- business world. These movers include the accessibility to a public network server. These networks are at our disposal therefore making it more convenient. There is also the issue of standardized protocols systems in the communication network which has also make it easier to carry out e- business. The user interface is also standardized which has create convenience therefore shorter time is taken to train expertise as well as adoption by organizations in to there systems. Consequences of governance and management structures on client organizations There are a number of consequences which include miscommunication due to lack of good communication, Certain structure do not give clear cut on responsibilities therefore client organization may not know the right way of approach. The political issues also characterize these organizations and the bureaucratic management and governance system which is also consequential to the client. How an outsourcer make money by providing the IT work These firm uses economies of scale in which the available resources are used in cover very many customers. They also use cheapest but effective resources to accomplish the work thus saving on costs. Outsourcers are also able to obtain some other work which was not included in the contract thus more revenue. The personnel may also involve sophisticated technologies which further boost the in put of the firm. They may also restructure a failed work to be much productive. If the firm has a long term contract with a client there will be constant revenue. Knowledge management is a misnomer because knowledge management can only exist in people’s heads. I disagree with the statement Knowledge refers to information which can give some direction. Knowledge management refers to the ways a person or organization get knowledge and transform it to better use for performance improvements. Aim of People management is to ensure that an organization have the right people who are actually having the right kills as well as being at the correct place in the recommended time. Because of this people think they can control knowledge. Knowledge is not controllable and can not be coaxed. Knowledge is classified into two. The tactic form which is very unique and private in the mind of individuals and the explicit form which is expressed, manipulated and publicized to everybody. The way to convey tactic knowledge to others brings about knowledge management and therefore it was renamed knowledge sharing. Therefore I disagree with the statement because knowledge management does not only exist in peoples mind but also in the public in explicit form. Features of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) This is business software which has several features which essential for the work of critical back office roles. These features include alert system which can be set such that the user can be notified on certain conditions such as information relating to customers. There is also the linked item feature which can help the user to access other information linked to it such as accessing receipt or order forms. There is also the feature of dimensional reporting which help in developing formats of reports which are customized according to different fields and categories to assist in extracting an important company data. There is also compatibility and sharing which can be used to move documents to other applications such as excel. There is also the Email feature which helps in attaching and sending of information to customers or other departments. There is keyboard navigation so that keyboard can be used to control it. There is also the modular which can be used to install a plugin. It is easily configurable therefore can be manipulated to fit the need of an enterprise. It also has the feature of scalability in which it can be deployed in either one server of a group of servers. It also has a multi feature in which it can be used in a multi purpose environment such as multiple organizations. There is also the auditing feature in which it can trace out and audit documents. Effective inventory management will help an organization to not only meet what customers expect in a product but also ensures that it goes beyond the expectation. There is constant struggle by companies to reduce operational cost in order to maximize in terms of sale and also the gross margins. There are various ways to effectively manage inventories for cost reduction. Understanding of the dead stocks is one of the ways to effectively manage inventory. There is also the issue avoiding excessive stress on the gross margin and efficiency in warehousing which will reduce on the cost of managing inventories. For effective cost reduction there should be reducing the wages paid to workers, the company should also reduce on the benefit as well as squeezing the total operational cost. Strategic uses of information technology Working inward involves the strategies of creating network connection between the employees and the business. It is known as intranet connection. The business must first develop well organized connection with employees. Intranets are network connections which are privately owned by companies. These networks use technology and procedure of internet. Its significance includes easy reach to information in the company, it is cheap and the system can easily be developed. It uses browser interface therefore to not require a lot of training services. The overall expenditure that the company will incur in information system will be low. Working outward is also a strategy involving connecting the business to its customers. It is being used because almost all products that are in the market can be transacted through the internet. Selling over the net also require what we called customer relationship management which comprises of knowing the nature of your customers. This can be done through actual calling or browsing through their websites. Any electronic business which is successful has to develop a well extensive value chain. E- Business is used to sell online as well as sourcing important information necessary for a company. There aimed currently is focusing on customer where products are developed based on their taste and preference. Working across refers to how one business interconnects with another business enterprise for the purpose of mutual operation. It can take different forms such as one business supplier working close with another business supplier. A business can also develop a mutual relationship with its clients. This has been done to reduce time taken as well as costs which are involved when a business firm is transacting business activities with another business enterprise for mutual benefit. There is also working together between two business enterprises which are not competitor to each other. It is also a form working across. Read More