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Organization’s Approach To IM IT Resources Questions

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Subject
Business
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Worksheet
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1. Why consider an organization’s approach to IM/IT resources and services as an
exercise in portfolio management?
Student Response:
e.g. Forces you to relate specific IT investments with the associated business need(s) and
value propositions.
Allows an organization to create a link between IT investments made, a firm's business
strategy, and the desired long and short term returns on the investments to assess the
business value of the IT investment.
Offers a framework to balance the risk and rewards of IT investments in business terms.
Allows managers to make more informed decisions to assess current investments and
plan for future investment in IT resources.
Creates a common language or methodology for the organization to administer the
direction of the firm in order to improve performance.
Allows for comparison between your organization against benchmarks, as well as between
business units, to gage the appropriateness of strategic goals and risk levels.
Ability to re-weight investments as strategies change and to track adjustments over time in
a more transparent way.
2. What is meant by IM/IT portfolio management?
Student Response:
e.g. The organization has the following information resource management needs:
o
To transact
o
To manage, control, make tactical decisions
o
To innovate, transform, increase its strategic competitiveness
o
Control costs and improve overall performance
A process that organizes and supports a firm's IT resources with regards to their
investment.
It measures costs, benefits, and risks of investments, implementation, and use of IT
resources.
An integrated approach to align the business strategy with the combination of the short
and long-term return on the investment.
To effectively manage a structure of 4 distinct asset classes (Informational, Strategic,
Transactional, and Infrastructure) that create a risk-return profile in order to organize and
allocate investments based on business strategy and goals.
o
Informational to increase quality and margins by providing information, fostering
communication, reporting compliance with regulations, and analyzing customer
needs to make better decisions.
o
Strategic to gain a competitive advantage by supporting innovation, new business
value, and growth.
o
Transactional to reduce costs, increase productivity by automating repetitive actions
and streamlining normal business functions.
o
Infrastructure as an underlying foundation to reduce costs due to standardization and
consolidation and to provide a platform for initiatives.

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3. According to the authors, how does an organization demonstrate its "IT savvy" and
how does this relate to achieving better or highest value IM/IT portfolio
performance? Assess the relevance of each one of these factors as an enabler of
competitive advantage.
The Elements of "IT Savvy"
Their Impact on the Organization's Competitive
Advantage
IT for communications both
internally and externally using e-
mail, intranets, and wireless
devices.
Integration and coordination within a firm
Collaboration - sharing knowledge with people located at
great distances from each other.
Mass communication - ability to reach a large number of
people
Influence - use of social networks to distribute
information using a simple, familiar process.
Information management - ability to harness e-mails, etc.
on a server to preserve for long periods of time.
Digitizing repetitive transactions
Time management - allows for better use of time of
skilled professionals by freeing them up from mundane
or routine tasks
Increases productivity
Cuts costs for certain business functions by automating
processes that do not require personnel (e.g. UPS
package tracking)
Internet Use
Sales force management
Employee performance measures
Training and post-sales customer support
Firm-wide IT skills
Increases knowledge base and capabilities of technical
and business skills of employees.
Better ability to troubleshoot and manage issues in a
timely fashion as they arise
Creates a common language for the business
Ability to adapt to new technologies and changes as they
arise
Organizational learning improved - promotes faster
learning for the next cycle of investments.
Involvement of business
management
Leadership has a better understanding of IT resources
and how they associate with the performance of the firm.
Allows for faster and easier changes and transitions
when allocations of resources need to be adjusted.
Allows for comparison among multiple business units
within the firm to make adjustments to the IT portfolio.
Practices of IT savvy business units can be shared and
transferred to lower IT savvy units.
Increases the chance incentives and rewards system to
be based on IT use and effectiveness
Provides greater accountability for the overall strategy

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1. Why consider an organization’s approach to IM/IT resources and services as an exercise in portfolio management? Student Response: • e.g. Forces you to relate specific IT investments with the associated business need(s) and value propositions. • • • • • • Allows an organization to create a link between IT investments made, a firm's business strategy, and the desired long and short term returns on the investments to assess the business value of the IT investment. Offers a framework to balance the risk and rewards of IT investments in business terms. Allows managers to make more informed decisions to assess current investments and plan for future investment in IT resources. Creates a common language or methodology for the organization to administer the direction of the firm in order to improve performance. Allows for comparison between your organization against benchmar ...
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