Information & Communications Technology Strategy

Organisations can no longer prepare their business strategies in isolation from their IT strategies. Traditionally business has driven IT strategy and the success of IT was measured on how well it supported the business objectives.

IT is no longer seen as merely an enabler of operational effectiveness, it is also considered by executives as enabling and often driving corporate strategy. If properly aligned with the business IT is ultimately able to generate strategic advantage and enhance the value delivered to shareholders.

At PricewaterhouseCoopers we help our clients to transform themselves and their industries in the pursuit of competitive advantage and operational effectiveness by using IT. Our IT Strategy Formulation solution enables clients to achieve rapid transformational change.

What is IT strategy?The IT strategy identifies and defines the application and information architecture, the technical infrastructures and IT organisation required to support the business strategy and objectives. In formulating an IT strategy, one must bear in mind that a strategy is only useful in that it guides and directs specific actions that provide value. IT strategy formulation, therefore, needs to be performed in shorter and shorter time frames to enable rapid change.

When formulating an IT strategy a number of important themes need to be considered. Some of these are listed here:

IT strategy must support the businessThe challenge for a business is to implement information technology and systems that are aligned with the needs of the business and provide the maximum benefit to the organisation. If an IT initiative does not deliver according to the business needs, it will most likely be doomed to failure.

Investments in IT as a part of business strategyTrue competitive advantage is very often gained through exploiting emerging technologies or improving understanding of the capabilities of existing technology. These investments should be justified based on strategic rather than financial grounds.

Packaged vs. bespoke systemsEnterprise-wide package implementations have been of the largest IT initiatives that clients have undertaken in recent years. The key issue in developing the IT architecture is which packaged components to choose and how these packages will work together.

ConvergenceThe convergence of information and communications technology provides an opportunity for organizations to—reduce operational costs and improve their communications capabilities. IT strategists agree that, because of the high quality, resiliency, and scalability of converging technology, the question is no longer “if” but “when” to implement.

IT SourcingSourcing must be considered for strategic reasons when formulating an IT strategy as a possible means to improve business focus, gain access to world-class capabilities, accelerate re-engineering benefits, share or transfer risks, or realign resources.

Our IT strategy formulation solutionPricewaterhouseCoopers’ methodology focuses on the critical IT strategy and planning issues for companies using IT to enable business transformation and major change. It is a focused and effective means to link strategy, process and technology to help clients build and sustain value. PricewaterhouseCoopers’ IT strategy formulation approach provides viable and practical solutions to the following issues surrounding IT:

• What is the current business strategy and how well is IT supporting this? This stage assesses the current issues relating to IT, and the business strategy and processes.

• Where do we want to be? This stage defines the IT vision, application architecture, infrastructure architecture, data/information architecture and IT organisation required to support the business strategy and improve business processes.

• How do we achieve our vision? This stage defines a sequence in which the various components of the new IT environment should be implemented.

Our approach can be summarised as follows:

Benefits of using PricewaterhouseCoopersPricewaterhouseCoopers assists clients with the formulation of sustainable IT strategies that serve as a management framework for effective use of IT systems. In particular, we offer our clients:

• A team comprising resources with specific expertise and knowledge drawn from within our global firm.

• Unsurpassed worldwide methodologies, tools and practice aids designed by our global firm to comply with international standards, and that are adaptable to local requirements.

• An independent and objective approach to our assignments.

• The project management skills to achieve the required results.

In summaryWith PricewaterhouseCoopers’ local and international expertise we provide our clients with a proven approach to formulating an IT strategy that supports their business strategies, thereby helping them to realise the strategic benefits from their investments in information and communications technology. Our IT Strategy Formulation solution helps clients to gain competitive advantage through exploiting emerging technologies or improving understanding of the capabilities of existing technology.

Contact details

For further information, please contact:

Andre February Tel: (011) 797 4205 / 084 677 2701 E-mail: andre.february@za.pwc.com

Angeli Hoekstra Tel: (011) 797 4162 / 082 783 1371 E-mail: angeli.hoekstra@za.pwc.com