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Unfortunately, building an IT strategy means making certain
decisions about technology that may seriously limit the business later on. An
organization may find itself strait-jacketed with a particular solution, vendor
or technology platform that is unable to cope with changing business needs.
Since the early 70's, academics all over the globe have
been conducting research into IT strategy. The key concept underlying most of
this research is that IT must be aligned with the business, and many academics
developed nice IT strategy methodologies that involved mapping business goals to
technology needs.
Most large organizations followed suit, and even today, Chief
Information Officers (CIOs) and Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) will tell you
about the various IT strategies that they have in their company and how they are
mapped to business goals. It all sounds good.
But times have changed, and paradoxical though it may seem,
IT strategies may just be bad for business. For one thing, business cycles are
much quicker than they used to be. Who, for example, would have predicted the
explosive growth in e-business?
Quite simply, businesses no longer plan out what they are
going to do in 10 or five years time anymore. So why should one even consider
having a long-term strategy for IT? Another thing is that business needs evolve.
IT strategies, however, are all about establishing what the business needs are
and then creating technology solutions to support those business needs. But how
can one define a strategy when business needs are forever changing? So while IT
strategies may have been useful in the 70's, they may not be so relevant
today.
What happens to existing IT strategies?
Which brings me onto those organizations that do have an IT strategy. How
many times do you think have end-users heard the response from their IT folks as
'Sorry, the system can't do that'?
Unfortunately, building an IT strategy means making certain
decisions about technology that may seriously limit the business later on. An
organization may find itself strait-jacketed with a particular solution, vendor
or technology platform that is unable to cope with those changing business
needs. Furthermore, technology cycles have become so rapid now that technology
decisions made even two years ago may not be so appropriate today.
So why do some organizations still hang on to the notion of
an IT strategy? For many CIOs and CTOs, it's probably what they've always
been doing so they just keep on doing it. In short, it's a legacy practice.
From a CIO's or CTO's viewpoint, it's also nice to be able to put
up a good set of PowerPoint slides that shows how the organization's IT
strategy has been meticulously planned out and how well under control it is.
In fact, this may be what the CEO expects the CIO/CTO to do.
And maybe those CIO/CTO's with so-called IT strategies that seem to change
year in year out don't really have a strategy and are simply changing their
minds to fit what looks good now.
Don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean that organizations
should stop making strategic IT decisions, but rather recognize that the notion
of an all-encompassing grand master-plan known as the IT strategy may no longer
be so appropriate in a modern business setting.
So unless your CIO/CTO is a Nostradamus who can predict the
future, perhaps you should question whether your organization's IT strategy is
actually helping or hindering.
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Dr Wing Lam is a Director,
MISM Program and Associate Professor with Universitas 21 Global |
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