Enterprise and Global Management of Information Technology

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Enterprise and Global Management of Information
Technology
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Learning Objectives

• Identify ways that information technology has
  affected the job of managers.
• Identify the seven major dimensions of a
  networked organization and explain how they can
  affect the success of a business.

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Learning Objectives (continued)

• Identify each of the three components of
  information technology management and use
  examples to show how they might be implemented in
  a business.
• Explain how failures in IT management can be
  reduced by the involvement of business managers
  in IS planning and management.

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Learning Objectives (continued)

• Identify cultural, political, and geo-economics
  challenges that confront managers in the
  management of global information technologies.
• Explain the effect on global e-business strategy
  of the trend toward a transnational business
  strategy by international business organizations.

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Learning Objectives (continued)

• Identify considerations that affect the choice of
  IT applications, IT platforms, data access
  policies, and systems development methods by a
  global business enterprise.

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Section I

• Managing Information Technology

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Business and IT
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• As companies are transformed into global
  e-businesses and players in global e-commerce, it
  is vital for business managers and professionals
  to understand how to manage this vital function.

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The Impact of IT on Managers

• A major force for precipitating or enabling
  organizational and managerial change
• Enables innovative changes in managerial decision
  making, organizational structures, and managerial
  work activities

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The Impact of IT on Organizations

• Key dimensions of the networked enterprise
• Organizational structure
• Leadership and governance
• People and culture
• Coherence
• Knowledge
• Alliances

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Managing Information Technology

• Three major components
• Managing the joint development and implementation
  of e-business and IT strategies
• Managing the development of e-business
  applications and the research implementation of
  new IT

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Managing Information Technology (continued)

• Three major components (continued)
• Managing the IT processes, professionals,
  subunits with the IT organization IS function

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Managing the IS Function
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• Organizing IT
• Centralization
• Decentralization
• Latest trend, hybrid

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Managing the IS Function (continued)

• Managing Application Development
• Involves managing activities such as
• systems analysis and design
• prototyping
• applications programming
• project management
• quality assurance
• systems maintenance

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Managing the IS Function (continued)

• Managing IS Operations
• Managing the use of hardware, software, network,
  and personnel resources in data centers/computer
  centers within an organization

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Managing the IS Function (continued)

• Managing IS operations (continued)
• Operational activities requiring management
• Computer systems operations
• Network management
• Production control
• Production support

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Managing the IS Function (continued)

• Managing IS Operations (continued)
• System Performance Monitors
• Monitor processing of computer jobs
• Helps develop a planned schedule
• Produce detailed stats for planning and control
  of computing capacity
• Chargeback systems
• Process control

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Managing the IS Function (continued)

• Human Resource Management of IT
• Recruit qualified personnel
• Develop, organize, and direct the capabilities of
  existing personnel
• Train employees
• Design career paths and set salary and wage
  levels

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Managing the IS Function (continued)

• The CIO and Other IT Executives
• Chief Information Officer (CIO)
• Oversees all use of IT in many companies.
• Brings the IT function into alignment with
  strategic business goals
• Concentrates on business/IT planning and strategy
• Helps develop strategic uses of IT in e-business
  and e-commerce

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Managing the IS Function (continued)

• Technology Management
• All IT must be managed as a technology platform
  for integrated e-business and e-commerce systems
• May assign a Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
• In charge of all IT planning and deployment

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Managing the IS Function (continued)

• Managing User Services
• Functions to support and manage end user and
  workgroup computing
• Provides both opportunities and problems for
  business unit managers
• Help desks
• Establish and enforce policies

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Failures in IT Management

• IT is not being used effectively by companies
  that use IT primarily to computerize traditional
  business processes, instead of using it for
  innovative e-business processes
• IT is not being used efficiently by IS that
  provide poor response times and frequent down
  times or when application development projects
  are not managed properly

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Failures in IT Management (continued)

• Management Involvement and Governance
• Senior management needs to be involved in
  critical business/IT decisions to optimize the
  business value and performance of the IT
  function.
• Requires development of governance structures
  that encourage active participation in planning
  and controlling the business uses of IT.

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Failures in IT Management (continued)

• Helps avoid IS performance problems
• Helps improve the strategic business value of IT

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Section II

• Managing Global IT

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The International Dimension

• A vital part of managing an e-business enterprise
  in the internet worked global economies and
  markets of today.

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Global IT Management
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Cultural, Political, and Geo-economics Challenges
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• Cultural challenges
• Differences in languages
• Cultural interests
• Religions
• Customs
• Social attitudes
• Political philosophies

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Cultural, Political, and Geo-economics
Challenges (continued)
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• Political challenges
• Rules regulating or prohibiting transfer of data
  across their national boundaries
• Severe restrictions, taxes, or prohibitions
  against imports of hardware and software
• Local content laws
• Reciprocal trade agreements

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Cultural, Political, and Geo-economics
Challenges (continued)
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• Geo-economics Challenges
• The effects of geography on the economic
  realities of international business activities
• Distance
• Real-time communication
• Lack of good-quality telephone and
  telecommunications service
• Lack of job skills
• Cost of living and labor costs

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Global e-Business Strategies

• Moving away from
• Autonomous foreign subsidiaries
• Autonomous foreign subsidiaries, dependent on
  headquarters for new processes, products, and
  ideas
• Close management of worldwide operations by
  headquarters

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Global e-Business Strategies (continued)

• Moving toward
• Reliance on information systems and Internet
  technologies to help integrate global business
  activities
• An integrated, cooperative worldwide hardware,
  software, and Internet-based architecture for IT
  platforms

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Global e-Business Applications

• IT applications depend on a variety of global
  business drivers, caused by the nature of the
  industry and its competitive or environmental
  forces
• Global customers
• Global products
• Global operations
• Global resources
• Global collaboration

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Global IT Platforms

• The technology infrastructure
• Technically complex
• Major political and cultural implications
• Challenges
• Managing international data communications
  networks
• Network management issues
• Regulatory issues
• Technology issues
• Country-oriented issues

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Global IT Platforms (continued)

• The Internet as a Global IT Platform
• Companies can
• Expand markets
• Reduce communications and distribution costs
• Improve their profit margins
• Low cost interactive channel for communications
  and data exchange

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Global Data Access Issues
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• Transborder data flows (TDF)
• Data flow across international borders over
  telecommunications networks of global information
  systems

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Global Data Access Issues (continued)

• Many countries view TDF as violating their
  national sovereignty
• Others, as violating their laws to protect the
  local IT industry or to protect local jobs
• May view TDF as a violation of their privacy
  legislation

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Global Data Access Issues (continued)

• Internet Access Issues
• High government access fees
• Government monitored access
• Government filtered access
• No public access allowed

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Global Systems Development

• Challenges
• Conflicts over local versus global system
  requirements
• Difficulties agreeing on common system features
• Disturbances caused by systems implementation and
  maintenance activities

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Global Systems Development (continued)

• Challenges (continued)
• Trade-offs between developing one system that can
  run on multiple computer and operating system
  platforms, or letting each local site customize
  the software for its own platform
• Global standardization of data definitions

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Global Systems Development (continued)

• Systems Development Strategies
• Transforming an application used by the home
  office into a global application
• Setting up a multinational development team to
  ensure the system design meets the needs of local
  sites as well as headquarters
• Parallel development
• Centers of excellence

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Discussion Questions

• What has been the impact of e-business
  technologies on the work relationships,
  activities, and resources of managers?
• What can business unit managers do about
  performance problems in the use of information
  technology and the development and operation of
  information systems in their business units?

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Discussion Questions (continued)

• How are Internet technologies affecting the
  structure and work roles of modern organizations?
  
• Will middle management wither away?
• Will companies consist primarily of
  self-directed project teams of knowledge workers?

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Discussion Questions (continued)

• Should the IS function in a business be
  centralized or decentralized? What recent
  developments support your answer?
• How will the Internet, intranets, and extranets
  affect each of the components of global
  information technology management?

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Discussion Questions (continued)

• How might cultural, political, or geo-economics
  challenges affect a global companys use of the
  Internet?
• Will the increasing use of the Internet by firms
  with global e-business operations change their
  move toward a transnational business strategy?

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Discussion Questions (continued)

• How might the Internet, intranets, and extranets
  affect the business drivers or requirements
  responsible for a companys use of global IT, as
  shown in the chapter?

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References
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• James A. O'Brien George M. Marakas.
  Management Information Systems Managing
  Information Technology in the Business Enterprise
  6th Ed., Boston McGraw-Hill/ Irwin,2004