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Information Systems Plans in Context: A Global Perspective Understanding the global information technology environment. By: Karan Sahni. INTRODUCTION.
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Information Systems Plans in Context: A Global PerspectiveUnderstanding the globalinformation technologyenvironment By: Karan Sahni
INTRODUCTION As an increasing number of businesses expand their operations into international markets, in order to succeed they need to understand the considerable cultural, economic, and political diversity in different parts of the world. For these reasons, while IT is a critical enabler and driver of global business expansion, it cannot be applied uniformly across the world. The examination of IS issues of the entire world is impractical and infeasible, and even the data are not readily available, therefore we summarize issues from a few countries selected on the basis of their level of economic development. Four categories of economic development are defined: • Advanced • Newly Industrialized • Developing (operational) • Under-developed
Key MIS issues in advanced nations(Advanced and industrialized nations include the United States, Western European countries, Japan, and Australia among others) Rank 1. Information architecture:An information architecture is a high level map of the information requirements of an organization. It includes the major classes of information (i.e. entities), and their relationships to the various functions and processes in the organization (The steps included in enterprise modeling include functional decomposition, entity-relationship diagrams, and planning matrices) Rank 2. Data resource:Data should be regarded as a vital resource for an organization.The establishment of large corporate databases, as well as the emergence of firms specializing in specific types of databases underscores the value of the data resource.
Rank 3. Strategic planning:Strategic IT planning refers to IT planning that supports business goals, missions, and strategy. The rate of technological change requires the ability to develop quick courses of action at economical costs, before they become obsolete. Rank 4. IS human resources:Human resources for IS include technical as well as managerial personnel. While there is no acute shortage of IS talent, the rapid technological change creates shortage of specialized skills.Organizations need to decide which IS functions can beoutsourced to external vendors and which need to be retained in-house. These decisions have strategic implications for the company.
Rank 5. Organizational learning:This issue calls for continued organizational learning about the applications of information technology, and productive use of information systems.Rank 6. Technology infrastructure:Infrastructure includes such components as organization’s diverse computers, telecommunication networks, databases, operating systems, system software, and business applications.Rank 7. IS organization alignment:The organizational positioning of the IS department within the company has a direct impact on its effectiveness. (Large companies today havepositions such as Chief Information Officer (CIO) and vice-president ofinformation technology)
Rank 8. Competitive advantage:Information technology and information systems in a firm can be used in ways that provide a decided advantage over its competitors. Rank 9. Software development:The development of software represents a major expenditure for the IS organization, yet it remains fraught with problems of poor quality, unmet needs, constant delays, and exceededbudgets. Rank 10. Telecommunication systems: Telecommunication systems provide the backbone for an organization to do business anywhere anytime, withoutbeing constrained by time or distance.
Table 6.1 Key issues in information systems management – USA(1994)Rank Description of the issue#1 Building a responsive IT infrastructure#2 Facilitating and managing business process redesign#3 Developing and managing distributed systems#4 Developing and implementing an information architecture#5 Planning and managing communication networks#6 Improving the effectiveness of software development#7 Making effective use of the data resource#8 Aligning the IS organization within the enterprise#9 Recruiting and developing IS human resources#10 Improving IS strategic planning#11 Managing the existing portfolio of legacy applications#12 Measuring IS effectiveness and productivitySource: Janz, B. D., Brancheau, J. C. and Wetherbe, J. C. Key informationsystems management issues. MISRC Working Paper, University ofMinnesota, 1994.
Key MIS issues in newly Industrialized nations(Countries like Taiwan, Hong Kong, Ireland, South Korea, and Singapore fall into this group) Rank 1. Communication between IS department and end users:Communication between these two groups of people is necessary as one group is the user and the other the builder Rank 2. Top management support: Top management support is required as IS projects require major financial and human resources.Senior management is expected to demonstrate its support by both allocating a suitable budget for the IS department, and by showing leadership and involvement
Rank 3. IS strategic planning:Lack of appropriate strategic planning in other countries has had the effectof producing system failures and creating uncoordinated ‘islands of automation’.Rank 4. Competitive advantage:The aggressive promotion of IT by the government has helped to raise further the IS practitioner’s consciousness of the competitive impacts of information technology.Rank 5. Goal alignment:The needs and goals of the IS department can often be at odds with the organizational goals. In order to assure goal alignment, senior management needs to clearly communicate the organization’s goals and strategies to the IS staff.
Rank 6. Computerization of routine work: In the USA, computerization of routine work was the first priority and was done in the 1960s and 1970s. Even thoughTaiwan is classified as a newly industrialized country, the extent of computer usage in business is far behind that in USARank 7. IT infrastructure:In vibrant economies, a responsive IT infrastructure is vital to the flexibility and changing needs of a business organization.Rank 8. System integration:Integration of various system components into a unified whole provides benefits of synergy, effectiveness, and added value to the user.
Rank 9. Software development productivity:Productivity is measured simply by the ratio of outputs to inputs. The speed of development is not able to keep pace with changing business needs. Possible explanations andreasons that were stated include: insufficient technical skills, high IS staff turnover, lack of use of software productivity tools, and inadequate user participation.Rank 10. System friendliness:Ease of use and user-oriented features are essential to the success and continued use of a software product, as thepopularity of graphical user interface (GUI) will testify.
Table 6.8 Key issues in information systems management – Taiwan (1994)Rank Description of the issue#1 Communication between the IS department and end users#2 Top management support#3 IS strategic planning#4 Competitive advantage#5 Goal alignment#6 Computerization of routine work#7 IT infrastructure#8 System integration#9 Software development productivity#10 System friendliness#11 Security and control#12 Software development qualityTie IS standards (tie)#14 Data resource#15 IS funding level#16 IS role and contribution#17 User participation#18 Recruit, train, and promote IS staff#19 Information architecture#20 Placement of IS departmentSource: Palvia, P. and Wang, Pien. An expanded global information technology issue model:an addition of newly industrialized countries. Journal of Information Technology Management,Vol. VI, No.2, 1995, pp. 29–39.
To Sum it up… • Advanced country issues are characterized by strategic needs (e.g. information architecture, data resource management, strategic planning for MIS, organizational learning) • NIC issues are not mainly strategic as advanced nations but are also not heavily operational like there developing counterparts (e.g. NIC issues include: communication between IS department and end users, top management support, software development productivity, goal alignment, and security and control)
