Module 1 – Case
Strategy and Strategic Planning
Assignment Overview
The Case for this module starts us off by looking at why IT strategy matters.
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Why IT strategy matters – LinkedIn Learning
In this case you will discuss how to make IT strategic and the challenges. Also discussion how to make IT departments agile and how to measure IT performance. Discuss the need for collaboration with other units of the business and does this require a Chief Information Officer?
Case Assignment
Compose a short (4–5 page) paper on:
The dimensions of IT strategy – the need for a CIO, IT performance, IT department agility, need for collaboration, and how to make IT strategic.
Submit your paper upon completion.
Assignment Expectations
Length: Follow the number of pages required in the assignment excluding cover page and references. Each page should have about 300 words. You may find using a table will help with the comparison.
Your assignment will be evaluated based on the rubric.
Module 1 – Resources
Strategy and Strategic Planning
There is an open debate as to whether there should be a distinct information technology strategy separate from the enterprise strategy of a corporation. Part of this debate is understandable. Should not all divisions of the company be guided by the enterprise-level strategy? If you find that logic compelling, let me offer an example to try to convince you otherwise. Most for-profit companies have an enterprise-level strategy that is some version of grow revenue. Marketing, sales, product or service divisions, IT, and other business units or functional areas will play a role in driving that revenue. Each of those divisions of the company needs to develop their own strategies to better articulate their plans, but also to be sure that the entire division understands the substance of the plans and is pushing in the same direction to accomplish the strategy. It also helps each division to focus on the projects or initiatives that will ensure that the strategy is accomplished. Enterprise strategy is often vague by design.
Corporate strategic plans often are written with the expectation that the real work to accomplish them and therefore a translation of sorts will happen where the rubber meets the road for the company in the divisions. It is the translation of that strategy into the divisions of the company that help define specific ideas of how that strategy will be enacted. Let us remember that a good strategic plan is as much about what a company is not going to do as it is about what it is doing. The specificity of divisional plans helps focus the company. Those ideas that are not articulated in the plan should not be pursued.
The IT department is one of the few divisions of the company that touches every part of the company. The IT team is ideally suited to work with the leaders of all other divisions on their plans with a special focus on advising them on how best to bring to life those plans through better use of information and technology. Just as important, members of the IT team are positioned to see strategic priorities that are in common or that diverge for multiple parts of the company that may not even occur to the divisional leaders who propose them. As such, the IT team can help ensure that common strategic priorities are addressed commonly, or diverging needs are reconciled where necessary. In reviewing all other divisional plans, the IT leadership team will be well positioned to understand where emerging demands for technology may not yet have a supply of resources, processes, or tools to support them. That opportunity or disconnect may well lead to a strategic priority within the IT strategy.
With the strategy declared and shared, the IT team can take the necessary actions to ensure that the supply of a technology meets the demand for it by the rest of the organization. In short, the leaders of the other divisions should articulate the what, and IT leaders should articulate the how. This give and take between the other divisions and IT must be free flowing. The conversations should be frequent and IT should strive to be part of the conversations at the point at which demand is first articulated. Too often, by not having a regular cadence or even the forums for these conversations, IT finds out about new strategic priorities only after they’re fully formulated.
That’s the point when the plans are less malleable. If IT leaders can get involved earlier in the process they can advise colleagues on the art of the possible. As the IT team’s ability to do this improves they will increasingly be invited to weigh in on more strategic imperatives, creating a cycle. Therefore, IT leaders need to get more actively involved in the strategic planning processes of each division of the company, and use those conversations to inform IT’s own strategic plan. Were IT to only act against the enterprise-level strategy, IT would be stuck in a reactive mode, rather than being a prime driver of the direction of the company.
Required Reading
Use How to find resources in Skillsoft to access material in Skillsoft.
Bankuti, M. (2021). The Strategy Analysis Knowledge Area Course. Available in the Trident Online Library in Skillsoft.
Fernando Almeida, & José Santos. (2018). The Business Plan Reference Manual for IT Businesses. River Publishers.
Mitigating security risks: Cyber security risks course. Available in the Trident Online Library in Skillsoft.
Mayo, S. (2022). ExecutivThe Business Plan Reference Manual for IT Businesses.e’s guide to cyber risk: Securing the future today. John Wiley & Sons, Chapters 1 – 4. Available in the Trident Online Library in Skillsoft.
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