Competing with Information Technology Essay

Chapter 2 introduces underlying concepts of competitive utility by means of reading engineering and illustrates major strategical applications of selective information systems. Information Technology (IT) professionals must(prenominal) understand how to use IT systems and technology to deliver a competitive advantage to the arranging. Information systems and technology should exsert up much than a cost savings benefit to organizations. Today, IT solutions atomic number 18 expect to provide the means to surpass a competitors performance. As discussed in Chapter 1, the role of IT professionals is changing. Currently, there is an evolving term, rail line technology, which is used to describe the uphill role in IT. IT professionals are becoming more and more coordinated with the melody operations of an organizations.The Real World Case Study 4, IT leading Reinventing IT as a Strategic trade Partner, describes how one organization is reorganizing to split up utilize IT to increase stock benefits and contribute to a competitive advantage. It is eventful for an IT organization to utilize IT to reduce the cost of running the concern, grow the business, or climb innovative fly the coop to change the business. To lay an organization to cave in provide its yields and services, an understanding of the competitive forces is infallible. Michael Porter identifies five threats that require business strategies ensure that an organization mint out-perform other competitors. They are1. Rivalry of competitors inwardly its industry2. Threat of new entrants3. Threat posed by supersede products that might entrance its foodstuff share4. The dicker power of nodes5. The bar get alonging power of suppliersTo counteract these threats, competitive strategies must be developed to portion out the potential risks an organization may encounter as it strives to maintain its position on the market place. The competitive strategies are1. Cost Leadership ou tline2. Differentiation Strategy3. Innovation Strategy4. Growth Strategies5. Alliance Strategies6. new(prenominal) StrategiesThese strategies can be used either individually or in a combination to position an organization to better compete for the future. An ensample of an organization that is utilizing IT to change how it does business and anticipate economically viable in the future is the online magazine Cross Talk. In the 1990s, Cross Talk was feeling and mailing the magazine to subscribers. With a decrease in funding, this organization had to develop ways to reduce costs, deliver its services to its subscribers, grow its subscriber base, found its range above other on-line content providers, and justify wherefore it should not be eliminated.Cross Talk is now available at its new website in either an online digital flipbook format or PDF sportcrosstalk is now completely electronic. This change reduces their carbon footprint and accords them to engage the journal to the ir readers in their preferred and most convenient format. This is to a fault CrossTalks first step towards reaching new reader devices and enhancing the suitability of the journal for our change magnitude electronic readership.Customer pass judgmentCustomer pass judgment has beat a driving force in the world economy. A key success factor for some(prenominal) organizations is developing customer value by increasing customer loyalty, anticipate their future needs, respond to customer concerns, and provide top-quality customer service. One example is Southwest Airlines. not only have they automated ticket sales via the profit, Southwest also sends special offers regarding discounts available at my destination, emails to remind customers that the trip is around the corner, schoolbook alerts if a flight is delayed, and offers incentives to fly with them. It seems that Southwest Airlines provides a personal patron to help create the travel experience more enjoyable. Think approx imately how some of your favorite businesses are creating customer value for you.Internet Technologies umteen organizations use Internet technologies to create a strategy to offer fast, responsive, high-quality products and services tailored to a customers individual preferences. Internet technologies make customers the focal point of customer relationship management (CRM) and other e-business applications. newfound technologies such as wikis and communicates are also being incorporated as a means to provide raised customer experience. Such communication theory enable continual interaction with customers by creating a cross-functional collaboration with customers in product development, marketing, delivery, service, and technical support. Television is taking advantage of this capability. TV intelligence agency shows are reading and answering emails and some reality TV shows allow views to vote for their favorite contestant, preferred ending, or favorite commercial. Using the I nternet technologies, business units are better able to formula and offer products and services. set ChainThe value chain is another concept that helps to identify opportunities for strategic information systems. It views an organization as a series of basic activities that make for value to its products and services. In this framework, activities are organized into primary and support processes. From the business understanding gained by analyzing an organizations value chain, the IT organization can determine where to best apply IT systems and technology. The following value chain pictural provides an example of how and where information technologies can be applied to specific business processes to gain a competitive advantage in the market place.Value chain offered by information technologies.Business ReengineeringOften times, to cover competitive, an organization must use up more than just where and what IT systems and technology solutions should applied. An organization mus t look at how it actually does business and therefore reengineer its business processes. Business reengineering requires an organization to re-design how it does business by eliminating stove-piped, silo organizations and functions, develop an improved understanding for opportunities for information sharing, and instituting enhanced stewardship regarding an organizations data and business processes.Agile CompaniesThe rate of change is increasing and organizations must be able to quickly respond to changing market trends. Standardized, long-lived products and services are giving way to globalized, niche markets which offer products that are individualized and short-lived. To become an agile organization, an organization must consider the following strategies. 1. Provide a solution that customers perceive as a solution to an individual problem. This allows the product to be priced based on value rather than cost to produce. 2. Cooperate with customers suppliers, and other companies t o quickly bring the product to market. 3. Thrive on change and uncertainty.4. Leverage the individuals and knowledge of the processes. Become entrepreneurial in spirit.Knowledge as a Competitive AdvantageTo remain competitive, organization must become a learning organization. Organizations must be able to capture the knowledge of the organization, learn from this knowledge, and then use it to enhance its offerings. Knowledge Management Systems facilitates an organizations ability to capture and then utilize its knowledge. Understanding and being able to utilize this unstructured take in is key to developing and maintain a competitive advantage. Information capture includes processes, procedures, patents, reference works, best practices, etc. This integration of knowledge helps an organization become an innovative and agile provider of high-quality products and customer services, and potentially a more formidable competitor in the market place.Leaders in information technology are e xpected to be not only a technology professional but also a business professional. umteen are tasked with finding emerging business opportunities, driving growth, encouraging innovation, and benignant customers. This provides a tremendous opportunity for you to step up and co-create and ultimately shape the future business vision. Collaborating with the business will not be repleteyou dont just provide the technology but together with own the success and failure of business initiatives. IT Portfolio Management and GovernanceAn emerging trend is enhanced IT Portfolio Management and Governance as a means to effectively apply IT systems and technology to business needs. According to Richard Spires, DHS CIO, in his blog post entitled Getting course Governance Right Helps hold Success on the federal CIO Council Web site Complex IT systems embrace at least a half-dozen stakeholder organizations that must be synchronized, including the strategy organization, the business or mission owner of the system, IT, finance, procurement, security, and privacy. Ensuring all key stakeholders are knobbed in key decisions is an essential element to assuring genuine alignment.broadcast Governance Boards provide guidance, decision-making, and oversight of one or more programs. The function of the Program Governance Board is not to usurp the authorities of the Program Manager (PM), but rather to provide a forum by which the PM can bring key issues and trade-off decisions to an informed, empowered soundbox that has a vested interest in that programs success and views the PM as a trusted advisor and true subject look specialist. IT organizations must determine where to range time, people, and money in current and new IT systems and services in order to enhance the value of products and services. To do this, many organizations are categorizing offerings into individual portfolios and establishing a strong governance structure to usher the selection and investment into soluti ons.Enterprise computer architectureOrganizations are establishing an Enterprise Architecture (EA) to inform, guide and constrain the investment decisions made by governance boards regarding IT systems. The national CIO Council defines EA as Enterprise Architecture is a strategic information plus base, which defines the mission, the information necessary to perform the mission and the technologies necessary to perform the mission, and the transitional processes for implementing new technologies in response to changing mission needs. An enterprise architecture includes a baseline architecture, target architecture (sometimes referred to an as-is and to-be), and a sequencing plan. An EA identifies which processes and IT systems to standardize and integrate. The benefits of an EA are reduction in IT Costs, improved IT responsiveness, guides the proper selection of IT solutions to ensure the consummation strategic business outcomes. The components of an enterprise architecture is des cribed in the embark belowVarious layers of an enterprise architecture. (Source NIST)ConclusionHow does your organization determine how to invest in IT? You might see if one of your organizations elderly executives is available for a 30 minute meeting to discuss how the organization determines what technologies to invest in as a corporation. Think about questions to ask. many examples might be how is an business need identified? How are IT investments reassert? Who are your competitors? If you work for an IT consulting firm, you might as how the company decides what contracts it will ask on. It can be said that our use of IT systems and technology is equivalent to when we were use rotary telephones.As you complete your Masters Program at UMUC, remain watchful of emerging trends in the IT industry, how it will be utilized to gain a competitive advantage, and what impact it will have on the skills needed by an IT professional and the organization structure required to take advan tage of the advancements in technology. Trends currently occurring that may be worth watching are cloud computing, software as a service, virtualization, social networks, and mobile computing. It is through developing learning as a life-long habit, remaining aware of trends in the industry, and understanding the impact that technology has on a companys ability to compete that you, as an individual, will be able to forestall your skills current, agile, and competitive.