Management of IS

Management of IS

† How do business organize themselves to

manage IS and IT activities?
„ Depends upon the type of technology
„ Depends upon the size of the business

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 What Needs to be Managed?
† Procurement activities
„ Of hardware, software and services
† Deployment or implementation activities
„ How do we get this stuff working within the business?
† Maintenance
„ Keeping everything running as the business evolves
„ Hardware, software, databases, web presence
† Protection
„ Backup and continuity planning
„ Security and audits
„ Disaster response

Organizational Objectives
† Cost effectiveness
„ Firms that spend too much on IT become uncompetitive
† Responsiveness
„ Is IT organization able to respond quickly and appropriately to
business needs?
† Quality and Effectiveness
„ Is the IT organization competent? Do they get the job done?

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 Organizational Models
† Informal
„ Very small organizations don’t have any formal IT function –
“a guy”
† Formal
„ Organizations have from 1 to thousand’s of employees
dedicated to IT

Formal Organization Models

† Decentralized
„ IT employees report to business unit or department, not to a
central, corporate organization
† Centralized
„ Employees report to a central organization

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 Pros and Cons of Decentralization
† Advantages
„ Responsiveness to local business unit
† Close proximity = easy communication
† Little bureaucracy
† Familiarity with business
† Feeling of ownership and belonging
† Disadvantages
„ Will tend to be reactive rather than strategic
„ Small size will make skill development and training more difficult
„ Lack of management expertise and professionalism
„ Will result in less efficiency for entire enterprise

Pros and Cons of Centralization

† Advantages
„ Cost savings through standardization
„ Procurement cost savings due to volume
„ Training efficiencies
„ Greater career opportunities with
h enhance
h attractiveness as a place
l to
work
† Disadvantages
„ Slow and bureaucratic (perceived to be)
„ Out of touch with real business
„ Cost accounting and charge back requirements

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 Current Large Business Trends
† Centralize and standardize procurement
„ All hardware
„ Most software
† Centralize web management
g and standards
„ But perhaps not development
† Centralize management of support of office systems
† Dual reporting for business application development
„ Corporate and business unit

Information Technology Infrastructure and

Information Technology Services

Information systems department:

† Formal organizational unit

† Responsible for information systems in the organization

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Information Technology
Services

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Includes specialists:

† Programmers: Highly trained, write software

† Systems analysts: Translate business problems into

solutions, act as liaisons between the information systems
department and rest of the organization

† Information system managers: Leaders of various

specialists

† Chief information officer (CIO): Senior manager in charge

of information systems function in the firm

† End users: Department representatives outside the

information system department for whom applications are
developed

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Careers In Information Systems
† Software Development
„ Business or C.S. background
† Database Administration
† Systems Analysis
„ Design business solutions
† Project and program managers
„ Understand technology
„ Manage people, decisions, contracts, schedules

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