Strategic Planning And It Management

The purpose of this article is to illuminate the need for any organization to have its IT strategy and business strategy properly aligned. While many organizations view IT and business alignment as an event – it is actually an on-going process, or continuous journey. Therefore, the main problem is that many organizations of today still hold these two principles (business mission & IT strategy) as two separate entities. However, in the Information Age – collaboration is key to capturing and retaining market penetration. To not have alignment with the IT and business strategy together is not a matter of want it is a matter of survival. This report will expand upon the need for business and IT strategic alignment as well as examine what happens in lack of a comprehensive plan. This will be done by examining the Vermont Teddy Bear company prior to and after the arrival of Bob Stetzel, the Vice President of Information Technology. This document will view it findings and make recommendations on the immediate and future operations of the company.

Concentrating IT system toward the begin of the new business procedures will be vital to ensure IT and business are cooperating with shared objectives that convey the most esteem. The steps described below are to be completed within each department

In the “Mini Case Study: IT Planning at ModMeters”, it is clear that the communication skills between the business managers and the IT managers were in need of improvement. IT planning is a method used to form clear objectives for IT organizations that connect directly back to the enterprise’s strategic business goals (“IT planning”, 2014). IT strategic planning assists in directing the business strategy, based on IT capabilities and opportunities and determines IT’s role in delivering the business strategy. There is a clear lack of communication and individual opinions on taking ModMeters global. Although CEO John Johnson and other high leveled corporate employees believed the idea was promising and seemed to look good on paper, Brian Smith, CIO of ModMeters had different thoughts on the expansion. Brian Smith knew that although the new initiatives were theoretically doable; however with such tight resources including people, time, and money, he knew that finding the means to support two new strategic initiatives was nearly impossible (McKeen, J.D., & Smith, H.A., 2012, p. 69). There seemed to be a major lack of communication when planning the new initiatives and the miscalculation of funds to do it successfully.

In the recent time there have been numerous of business groups and organizations that come up only to be in operation for a short period of time and there after they break apart. Typical example is of such groups is Bizcafe business group. They are always composed of few members and they aim at achieving short time goals. In most cases, they are dissolved once their objectives are immediately met. Although Bizcafe, a typical small business group is a temporal make fit of business, it can operate successfully through application of good management strategy. Furthermore, skillful planning, business operations, marketing, good customer relation, staff motivation and

It has become progressively more documented that information is the most important strategic resource that any organization has to deal with. Key to the compilation, analysis, production and allocation of information within an organization is the quality of IT services provided to the business. It is necessary that it is recognized that IT services are vital, strategic, organizational assets and consequently organizations must invest suitable levels of resources into the support, delivery and management of these vital IT services and the IT systems that support them. The challenges for IT managers are to co-ordinate and work in collaboration with the businesses to deliver high quality IT services. This has to be accomplished while adopting a more business and customer oriented approach to delivering services and cost optimization (Cartlidge, Hanna, Rudd, Macfarlane, Windebank & Rance, 2007).

Foundation of IT in a place is very crucial for most business. Organizations can use IT resource to create innovative and strategic process that helps business to reach beyond the status quo. Organization without new technologies resources can lose momentum and fall behind in competition. On the other hand, organizations with effective and updated technologies remain competent and superior; get competitive advantage thus acquire and maintain their big market share.

Every year at about this time or a little earlier, we start the process of ‘strategic’ planning.

Here I’m going to mention the strategic planning for a software company as it is my profession. Software’s are one of the important factors which control all the computerized electronic systems. So, usually software developing companies have a strategic plan and they should strictly follow through to get the goal. Here are the strategic plans for my company.

In his article, “The Fall and Rise of Strategic Planning,” Henry Mintzberg (1994) provides his views on the process of strategic planning. He offers that most companies and organizations start a strategic planning process with little understanding of the definition or actual purpose of planning. He tends to admonish much of the conventional understanding concerning strategic planning and proposes his interpretations. He states that “the most successful strategies are visions, not plans” (Mintzberg, 1994, p. 107).

Is the author’s use of Axl Rose of Guns N ' Roses an accurate portrayal of the new reality or is it indicative of a problem with Axl Rose’s management?

This document is an evaluation report prepared for Information Management and Technology Strategy of VicRoads for the duration 2012 to 2014. Information Management and Technology (IM&T) is considered to be an important business enabler for delivering VicRoads Strategic directions from 2012 to 2014. The principles briefed in the IM&T report deliver guidelines for the usage, management and implementation of IM&T resources, assets and services across VicRoads (VicRoads, 2013).

IT management capabilities are defined as the ability of an organization’s IT and management staff to administer IT resources and transform them for the creation of business value (Peppard J. , 2007). IT function is typically portrayed as an island, separated from the rest of the organization. IT is usually seen as a resource that can be managed from within a box on the organizations’ map. Yet research clearly indicates otherwise; Peppard (2007) is quoted as saying, “IT cannot be managed as an island but must be fully integrated with the mainland”. In his paper examining the Conundrum of IT management, he uses this analogy to show how firms neglect the IT function

This paper will discuss the processes and pitfalls faced by Information Technology managers in today’s world of business. Today’s IT managers need not only be savvy about existing equipment and upcoming technology; but must also understand the budget issues they face and how to properly address them. The IT manager is asked to look into a crystal ball and predict what products will be beneficial and which requirements can be cut from the budget. They must be able to differentiate between the new shiny fad and products that will be a true asset to the company’s visions and goals. An IT budget can no longer be a static number on the company’s finance sheet; it must be a clear vision of the department’s future spending while falling in line with the goals and expectations of the company.

The intention of this paper is to prepare an IT plan for 2degreees for their new purposed IT system with a view to their business using a detailed business case. Efforts has also been made for a proper SLA between the vendors and the organization for the new IT system. Also the same plan has been compared with a standard IT plan to find the flaws in the purposed IT system and the recommendations are made accordingly.

Frenzel (2004) claimed that to be successful, a firm’s IT management team must take action on the following critical areas: business management issues; strategic and competitive issues; planning and implementation concerns; and operational items. If for any reason, the organisation experiences difficulties in the above areas, the manager will need to set goals and objectives to overcome and prevent these issues.