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Final IS paper

IT Strategy Alignment Within Action Pages

Courtney Boone
Washington State University
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Abstract

Using online articles, personal experience, and interviews, this paper provides a detailed
description of the Information Technology (IT) architecture of the digital media company,
Action Pages. Emphasizing the importance of having an aligned business, IS, and organizational
strategies, this paper describes the result of not having an aligned IS strategy, and how this
misalignment has affected the organization. After detailing the IT architecture of the firm and
how its resources are used ineffectively, a recommendation is offered to help improve business
efficiencies, and align the IS, business, and organizational strategies.
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Information technology (IT) has become an integral part of every modern business’s

strategy. Technology is an essential component in the success of any business. An effective IS

strategy can efficiently utilize IT resources to take advantage of new opportunities and help

mitigate threats; being able to manage the organization’s resources, capabilities, and staff

efficiently can mean the difference between gaining and sustaining a competitive advantage, and

complete business failure. But, in order to gain a competitive advantage, an organization must

ensure that the information systems (IS) triangle which consist of the organizational, IS, and

business strategies are all aligned. My former employer, Action Pages is a perfect example of

what happens when business, organization, and IS strategies are not aligned.

I worked as a digital marketer in this marketing agency that focused on both print media

and digital marketing capabilities. The firm creates dynamic web pages, help improve search

engine optimization (SEO), manage social media and Google My Business pages, and provide

review and listing management services. They also create business cards, listings in the local

phone book, and other print marketing options such as magnets, flyers, etc. Action Pages’

organizational structure favors a decentralized structure, but also closely favors a networked

organizational structure. There is an IT department, accounting, print, digital marketing, and

sales department within the organization, within the multinational Action Pages locations.

Within each department, governance is somewhat fluid, as there isn’t a clear definition of who is

the head manager for each department; also print services and mobile marketing services are

outsourced with companies that have their own internal set of governance. In terms of

governance and business processes for Action Pages, for the most part, as long as the expected

job was completed, regardless of how it was completed, then, work continued on as “normal.”
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The owner of the company created the business strategy and formed the different

departments that he felt were necessary to implement this strategy. Once the strategy was in

place, he defined organizational goals, and the business requirements necessary to reach these

business goals. The organization required an architectural system that would be flexible, allow

large storage and retrieval of data, and provided the use of various networks for each department.

The business strategy is to expand business offerings in new under-developed small business

markets. Understanding the requirements necessary to make sufficient use of IT capabilities and

resources, the owner, left the responsibility of sourcing interdepartmental architecture to enable

business requirements, digital strategy, and goals to be met to the two IT department employees.

Each department used computers that had pre-downloaded CRM software that was

relevant to each department. The accounting department uses FreshBooks accounting software to

keep track with accounting records. The decision to use this software was a great decision by IT,

because FreshBooks integrates well with other CRM systems, and make online payment easy

and streamlined. The IS infrastructure in the digital marketing department uses Google Drive

cloud computing to store and share client data and information repositories which allows us to

retrieve client and competitor data to convert the information to be used for SEO and listing

management services in a “self-contained’ digital ecosystem. We also use website encryption in

the infrastructure, mobile advertising, and social network platforms to establish two-way

communication between clients and their customers. While the use of these platforms and IT

infrastructure all support the business strategy and goals, the non-standardized business process

of using these IT assets are inefficient, causing a misalignment in IT and organizational strategy.
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Providing soul IT departmental governance to the IT department, was the first mistake

made of the company that caused a misalignment of the organizational, business, and IS strategy.

Allowing the IT department to determine what IT was best needed for each department without

input from each department, caused ineffective use of IT resources and capabilities, and caused

inefficiencies within the business processes. According to an article written on corporate

governance for Stanford Business, there isn’t a “formal” one size fit all descriptor of what makes

“good” corporate governance [ CITATION Kig20 \l 1033 ]. While there may not be a formal best

practice for corporate governance, I would say that allowing the IT department to implement a

digital business strategy as well as design the architecture for various departments is a horrible

idea, as the IT department should never be in charge of creating and implementing a business

strategy. The level of “freedom” given to the IT department, gave the two employees CIO and

middle manager like rights and responsibilities. Small Business Chron describes the

multifunctioning abilities of a CIO, and how they manage all technology and technological

solutions in a firm. Because the position encompasses many different elements within the

position, they are able to make informed decisions on the type of IS and IT architecture that is

needed[ CITATION Ren \l 1033 ]. Similar to the CIO, the IT department looked for ways to be

innovative and use IT to create a competitive advantage. They decided that using mobile

advertising was a great way to expand business offerings while providing a new service. Along

with the print media, an outside company was third party outsourced to implement a mobile

banner advertising service. Using an outsourced company who had the IS structure that would

allow us to implement this new service was a more cost-efficient idea, but, because the IT

department made the decision (along with the owner) without informing all the impacted
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employees beforehand and how this change would affect their daily work processes, caused the

firm to become inefficient resulting in misuse of resources and interdepartmental frustration.

Working in the digital marketing department, I would see some of the inconsistencies

within the organization, and the flow between fulfilling orders between the IT department, digital

marketing, and sales department were off. It wasn’t until after I took this class that I gained

better understanding of the value of IT, and how misalignment of the business, organizational,

and IT strategies can negatively affect the business. I called one of my old co-workers (who is

still currently employed by the organization) to gain insight on the current business process and

IT strategy for the organization. Terri explained how the IT department still implements

strategies and do not receive input from any other department besides the sales department. The

“lead” sales member often meets with the IT department to provide details about how new

services offered is translating out in the field when they are selling the products, and they

recommend changes. Sales agents are also now able to work from home and access client Google

drive data using their own personal computers (T. Pearson, 2021).

While I can say it is an improvement that the sales and IT department are at least

collaborating to help implement business and IT strategy, more is needed in order for the firm to

run more efficiently. It is clear to me that giving so much “power” and decision right making

responsibilities to the IT department without allowing the IT employees to coordinate and

receive input from the key stakeholders within the various departments is the main reason for

organizational inefficiencies. It is the IT department’s job to create architecture that encompasses

system requirements, standards, and processes that will meet business goals and objectives; but,
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it is also important that the IS strategy created is also aligned with the business and

organizational structure strategy. Moving forward, I recommend including a business process

that would require the IT department to meet with “lead” employees within each department to

design and implement new IT changes. That way, they will have a better understanding of

department needs and standards, so that the IT strategy encompasses the needs and capabilities

of the organization, and the business, organizational, and IS strategies are all aligned. I would

also recommend having a designated manager in each department who delegates decisions and

formal business processes along with the owner to implement effective business strategies,

instead of leaving so much responsibility with the IT department.

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Works Cited

Kiger, P. (2020, January 6). Good Corporate Governance Is a Great Idea, But Is Anyone

Practicing It? Retrieved from Inisghts by Stanford Business:

https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/good-corporate-governance-great-idea-anyone-

practicing-it

O'Farrell, R. (n.d.). CIO Advantages Vs. Disadvantages for a Company . Retrieved from

Advantages of Limited Liability Companies: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/cio-

advantages-vs-disadvantages-company-10279.html

Pearson, T. (2021, February 21). lead digital marketer. (C. Boone, Interviewer)