Download - The foundations of IT strategy
The foundations of IT strategyThe foundations of IT strategy
Jonny Holmström
Web: jonnyholmstrom.com
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: jonnyholmstrom
OutlineOutline
Mintzberg again
Galliers & Leidner
Early assumptions about IT strategy
Assumptions change…
Peppard et al (2014)
Ad hoc
IS planning
SISP
Building an IS capability
IS Strategizing
Remember Mintzberg’s view of Strategy?
Source:H. Mintzberg and J. A. Waters, “Of Strategies, Deliberate and Emergent,” Strategic Management Journal 6 (1985), pp. 257-72.
Galliers & Leidner: Strategic Galliers & Leidner: Strategic Information ManagementInformation Management
IT management must not only be sensitive to the phase of a technology, but also its impact on the organization
As technology, environment and organization change, so too must the priorities which organizations give to their IS portfolios.
The strategic impact of IS/IT on an organization will vary over time
The early assumptions on IT The early assumptions on IT strategystrategy
The strategic alignment model (Henderson & Venkatraman, 1993)
Assumes that linkages/alignments between key components must be in place
Assumptions change over time…Assumptions change over time…1950s1950s 1980s1980s 2000s2000s
Practice and technology becomes Practice and technology becomes increasingly complexincreasingly complex
IT strategies in organizations (Peppard et al., IT strategies in organizations (Peppard et al., 2014)2014)
Ad hoc bottom-up approach to Ad hoc bottom-up approach to determining ISdetermining IS
Praxis: Ad hoc approach to determining EDP and computing requirements
Practitioners: IT staffs Practices: Most emphasis on building systems rather than
determining strategy. Illustrative tools: Systems development methodologies
Description: Ad hoc, bottom up, primarily driven by technology requirements. IS plan operational in focus, for the most part identifying individual applications (cf Galliers and Sutherland, 1991)
IS planningIS planning Praxis: Top down approach to determining IS needs to
meet business goals. Shared group understanding of a few key individuals (Ciborra, 1994)
Practitioners: IT staffs Practices: Planning based on an informal network of a few
key individuals (Pyburn, 1983; Earl, 1993)Illustrative tools: IBM Business Systems Planning Andersen Consulting Method 1 Critical success factors (Rockart, 1979)
Description: Formal top down planning for IS. IS plans reactive to business plans. Aligning to business goals (Kriebel, 1968; Zani, 1970; McFarlan, 1971; King and Cleland, 1975; Zachman, 1978; King, 1978)
Strategic planning for Strategic planning for information systemsinformation systems
Praxis: Team approach (Mentzas, 1997). Involving multiple stakeholders (Earl, 1993). Importance of feedback in assessing IS planning effectiveness (Baker, 1995)
Practitioners: IS strategy promoted as a business management issue (Earl, 1989). Senior management and IT staffs
Practices: Focus on themes (Earl, 1993). IS plans periodically reviewed to adapt to changing circumstances (Earl, 1993). Illustrative tools: Customer resource lifecycle, Strategic thrust analysis, Five forces analysis, etc
Description: Proactively seeking opportunities for competitive advantage from IT (McFarlan, 1984; Porter and Millar, 1985; Earl, 1989)
Building an IS capabilityBuilding an IS capability Praxis: IS capability embedded in fabric of the organization Practitioners: All employees Practices: Influenced by organizational culture; and
information orientation of organization (Marchand et al., 2000)
Description: Acknowledging that having a strategy is only part of what is required. Ability to continually identify opportunities, deploy technology, implement change and use information and IT (Peppard and Ward, 2004)
IS strategizingIS strategizing Praxis: Cognitive and intellectual dimensions. ‘‘The most
important direct predictor of alignment in this study was a high level of communication between IT and business executives’’ (Reich and Benbasat, 2000)
Practitioners: All employees Practices: Co-evolution of business and IT strategies
(Benbya and McKelvey, 2006; Breu and Peppard, 2003) Description: IS strategy something that organizations do
rather than have. Integrating IS considerations into the discourse on business and knowledge strategy (Galliers, 2011). Functional strategies having a digital component; fusion of IS and business strategies – the digital strategy (Bharadwaj et al., 2013)
SummarySummary
IT strategy has become a key concern for today’s organizations
The role and meaning of IT strategy depends heavily on the role and meaning of the character of IT
There are several distinct approaches to IT strategy – a firm must make informed decisions regarding what approach to pick