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IT

Ron Williams

Business Innovation Through Information Technology

IS Organization

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IT

Ron Williams

What Should You Expect from IS

• Technology Leadership– Anticipating new technologies and business needs– Understanding and communicating strategic impact on the business

• Business partnership – Delivering what the business needs (Integrating people, processes, & technology)– Ability to partner with the business to deliver results

• Building and managing an IT platform– Based on architectures an standards– That is reliable, scalable, & flexible– Cuts across a wide range of technologies (Servers, desktops, networks, software,

applications, information, security)

• Software development and sourcing ( On-time, On-budget)

• IT supplier management

• IT human resource management

• Managing the trade-off between business needs and cost & capital control

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IT

Ron Williams

Chief Information Officer (CIO) Responsibilities:

• Championing the IT organization

• Architecture management – A blueprint that describes how technology is put together to support the business strategy

• Business strategy consultant – How can technology help the business?

• Business technology planning - Where is technology going

• Technology transfer agent

• Applications development

• IT infrastructure management

• Staffing

• Sourcing

• Partnership developer

• Customer satisfaction management

• Training

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IT

Ron Williams

9 essential CIO skills:

• Strong business orientation

• Ability to realize benefits & manage costs and risks associated with IT

• Ability to bridge gaps between available technologies and business needs

• Familiarity with client’s needs

• Strong organizational skills

• Ability to conceive and build multiple IT projects

• Ability to articulate and advocate for an IT vision

• Ability to mesh with existing mgmt structure

• Strategic enterprise vision extending beyond IT

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IT

Ron Williams

Sample IS Organizational Chart

CIO

CKO

CTOCNO

Operations

IS Managers

SystemDevs. Bus.

AnalystsDBAdmins.

SupportPersonnel

ArchitectsNetwork Architect

Support

Admin

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IT

Ron Williams

Key IT Roles

• CIO: Chief Information Officer

• CKO: Chief Knowledge Officer

• CTO: Chief Technology Officer

• CTO: Chief Telecommunications Officer

• CNO: Chief Network Officer

• CRO: Chief Resource Officer

• Divisional CIOs/Corporate CIO

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IT

Ron Williams

Other Information Systems Organizational Roles

• IS/ Systems Managers

• Systems Developers/Programmers

• Business Analysts

• Database Administrators

• Operations Personnel

• Support Personnel

• Developers/ Programmers

• Webmaster, Web Designer, Web Developer, etc.

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IT

Ron Williams

IS Organization Processes

• Systems Development

• Systems Maintenance

• Data Center Operations

• Internet and Networking Services

• New Technology Introduction

• Special Projects

• Resource Management

• General Support

• ……

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IT

Ron Williams

Six IT Decisions IT People Should not Make

• How much we spend on IT?

• What business processes should receive the dollars?

• What capabilities need to be company-wide?

• How good our IT services really need to be?

• What security and privacy risks will we accept?

• Whom do we blame if an IT project fails?

Source: Jeanne W. Ross and Peter Weill (HBR 11/02)

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IT

Ron Williams

IT Outsourcing

Contracting with an outside vendor to take over part of all of the an information systems activities for the purpose of saving money, refocusing the organization on its core business, or obtaining better systems

Source: Radding

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IT

Ron Williams

Outsourcing Evolution

• Initially & still most common - Means of cost control: e.g., maintenance

• Classic model: only outsource functions that don’t give a competitive advantage

• Now, “selective process outsourcing”: choose which IT capabilities to retain in-house and which to outsource.

• Developing idea – Computing on-demand

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IT

Ron Williams

Factors driving outsourcing

• Cost savings

• Highly qualified IT staff are difficult to find and retain

• Reduction in things that require management focus

• Outsourcers skills

• Outsourcers may have larger IS resources that provide greater capacity on demand.

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IT

Ron Williams

Disadvantages of outsourcing

•Abdication of control

•High switching costs

•Lack of technological innovation

•Loss of ownership

•Fixed contractual relationships that are hard to redefine

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IT

Ron Williams

Be Careful

• Don’t just look at the price the outsourcer is charging

• Don’t just look at the cost savings

• Make sure the contracts don’t inhibit necessary flexibility

• Understand your strengths and weaknesses

• Understand the vendors strengths and weaknesses

• Develop the relationship management skills

• Understand the benefits and tradeoffs

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IT

Ron Williams

Centralized vs. Decentralized IT

• Centralized: resources under one control and, often, in one location.

• Decentralized: resources not in the same location or control– Physical – Organizational

• “Federalism” combines centralization with decentralization –common model– Centralize major infrastructures that need to be shared across the

organization– Decentralize application development and systems that are

organizationally unique

• What makes the most sense today?