IT: Manager perspective

How is IT relevant to a Manager ? How do manager contribute to IT success ? What role do managers play in course of an IT effort?

IT: Manager perspective

Selection Build Outsource Adoption Exploitation

IT: Manager perspective

Buy

Selection
Build

IT System

Adoption

Live system

Exploitation

Selection
Are all IT systems (e.g. E-mail, an ERP system, and computer-aided design (CAD) software) essentially the same from a managerial perspective? Is each unique?

Selection

Outside-in approach

Inside-out approach

IT Categories
Function IT (FIT) IT that assists execution of a discrete task

Enterprise IT (EIT) IT used to impose work structures Network IT (NIT) IT that facilitates interactions without specifying their parameters

IT Categories IT Categories Example

FIT

Simulators , Spreadsheets , CAD/CAM , Statistical software

ERP, SCM ,CRM ,Sourcing/procurement Software E-mail , Instant messaging ,Wikis , Prediction markets

EIT

NIT

IT Categories
IT Categories Capabilities

FIT
EIT

Experimentation Precision
Design Standardization Monitoring Self-organization Collaboration Judgment

NIT

Function IT : Capabilities
Experimentation: The rapid and inexpensive execution of many trials using a digital model of a real-world system. Computer-based simulation can cover large portions of the solution space of a given situation
Precision: The generation of almost arbitrarily accurate information about aspects of a system of interest

Enterprise IT : Capabilities
Design: The configuration of a multistep business process that generates, uses, and/or transforms information. Design can entail defining tasks, assigning them to process participants, setting them into sequences, establishing decision points and possible outcomes, and handling exceptions. Standardization: The deployment of consistent data and/or business processes across some portion of one or more organizations Monitoring: The ability to observe, typically from a remote location, activities, events, trends, quantities, etc

Network IT : Capabilities
Self-organization: The appearance over time of patterns and structure within a system as the result of many low-level interactions, and without any centralized planning or direction

Collaboration: Interactions among people outside of formal, pre-defined business processes Judgment: The expression of beliefs or opinions. Judgments are the results of peoples cognitive processes; they may or may not be based on rigorous analyses.

Selection
IT selection objective is Capability acquisition
Do we need a customer relationship management system is rephrased as Do we need to impose standardized data collection across our sales force so that we can better monitor and analyze their activities?

IT & Competitive advantage

What makes a resource truly strategic is not ubiquity but scarcity. IT has become a commodity. Affordable and accessible to everyone, it no longer offers strategic value to anyone.

IT & Competitive advantage

Technology is getting cheaper all the time. Does this mean that IT capabilities are also getting easier to acquire? Is it a good idea or a bad idea to pursue competitive advantage and differentiation via IT?

Organizational complements
IT as a general purpose technology, the value of which is maximized by the presence of Organizational complements

Managerial IT skills are the only element of IT that can provide sustainable competitive advantage

Organizational Complements Greater interdependence among people and groups, New workflows Reallocated decision rights

IT Categories
Function IT (FIT) IT that assists execution of a discrete task

Enterprise IT (EIT) IT used to impose work structures Network IT (NIT) IT that facilitates interactions without specifying their parameters

Organizational complements
IT Categories

Characteristics

FIT

Can be adopted without complements Impact increases when complements are in place

EIT

NIT

Imposes complements throughout the organization Defines tasks or sequences Mandates data formats Use is mandatory Doesnt impose complements but lets them emerge over time Doesnt specify tasks or sequences Accepts data in many formats Use is optional