ISS Summary Learning Goals
Lesson 1
● Explain the main role of CIO, i.e., IT-business alignment
Chief In
formation Officer: Head of Information Technology; the highest level IT executive or
manager in a firm or business unit.
CIO’s main role is aligning business and IT
He has three main responsibilities:
- Intellectual alignment (aligning business strategy and IT strategy)
- IT alignment (aligning IT infrastructure with IT strategy)
- Operational alignment (aligning IT infrastructure with business infrastructure)
● Explain alignment components and alignment types
Business Strategy: Strategic Positioning
Porter argues that there are two generic strategies
Miles and Snow argue that there are three generic strategies
IS Strategy Types:
Sabherwal & Chan suggest three IS Strategy Types
,Intellectual alignment (Business-IT strategy The degree business strategy supports and is
alignment) supported by the IT strategy.
IT alignment (IT strategy - IT infrastructure & The degree to which the higher level,
processes alignment) externally focused IT strategies are aligned
with the lower level, internally focused IT
infrastructure and processes.
Operational alignment (Organizational The lower level, internally focused operational
infrastructure & processes - IT infrastructure level of alignment deals with how the
& processes alignment) business infrastructure and processes align
with the IT infrastructure and processes.
● Categorize a challenge of CIO as a correct misalignment type
,Lesson 2
● Explain business competence and its dimensions
Business competence is the set of business and interpersonal knowledge/skills that enable a
CIO to apply their technical knowledge in ways that are:
- Beneficial to the organization (increase firm performance)
- To act cooperatively with their business partners (increase alignment)
It has two dimensions:
- Organization-specific knowledge/skills
- Interpersonal & management knowledge/skills
These are further explained in the following model:
Organization overview: know organization's goals and objectives, core capabilities, success
factors, external environment (e.g., government, competitors, suppliers, customers)
Organization units: know different divisions' main challenges, language, processes,
inter-dependencies
Organizational responsibility: feel responsibility for (commitment to) outcomes not directly
related to IT
IT-Business integration: know how IT and business can be integrated to increase
organizational performance
, Knowledge networking: know the right contacts and sources inside and outside the
organization to ask for answers to business questions
Interpersonal communication: be effective at working in teams, communicating with different
people, and communicating in non-technical language
Leadership: know and be effective in managing projects, change management, risk
management, directing people
● Explain IT competence and its dimensions
IT competence is: the set of IT-related knowledge an experience that a business manager
possesses.
It has two dimensions:
- IT knowledge
- IT experience
These are further explained in the following model:
Technology: Knowledge of current and emergent technologies that are both generic to all
industries and specific to the organization and its competitors
Application: Knowledge of current and emerging IT application portfolio, where applications
refer to the ways IT is or could be used by organizations to achieve their business goals.
Lesson 1
● Explain the main role of CIO, i.e., IT-business alignment
Chief In
formation Officer: Head of Information Technology; the highest level IT executive or
manager in a firm or business unit.
CIO’s main role is aligning business and IT
He has three main responsibilities:
- Intellectual alignment (aligning business strategy and IT strategy)
- IT alignment (aligning IT infrastructure with IT strategy)
- Operational alignment (aligning IT infrastructure with business infrastructure)
● Explain alignment components and alignment types
Business Strategy: Strategic Positioning
Porter argues that there are two generic strategies
Miles and Snow argue that there are three generic strategies
IS Strategy Types:
Sabherwal & Chan suggest three IS Strategy Types
,Intellectual alignment (Business-IT strategy The degree business strategy supports and is
alignment) supported by the IT strategy.
IT alignment (IT strategy - IT infrastructure & The degree to which the higher level,
processes alignment) externally focused IT strategies are aligned
with the lower level, internally focused IT
infrastructure and processes.
Operational alignment (Organizational The lower level, internally focused operational
infrastructure & processes - IT infrastructure level of alignment deals with how the
& processes alignment) business infrastructure and processes align
with the IT infrastructure and processes.
● Categorize a challenge of CIO as a correct misalignment type
,Lesson 2
● Explain business competence and its dimensions
Business competence is the set of business and interpersonal knowledge/skills that enable a
CIO to apply their technical knowledge in ways that are:
- Beneficial to the organization (increase firm performance)
- To act cooperatively with their business partners (increase alignment)
It has two dimensions:
- Organization-specific knowledge/skills
- Interpersonal & management knowledge/skills
These are further explained in the following model:
Organization overview: know organization's goals and objectives, core capabilities, success
factors, external environment (e.g., government, competitors, suppliers, customers)
Organization units: know different divisions' main challenges, language, processes,
inter-dependencies
Organizational responsibility: feel responsibility for (commitment to) outcomes not directly
related to IT
IT-Business integration: know how IT and business can be integrated to increase
organizational performance
, Knowledge networking: know the right contacts and sources inside and outside the
organization to ask for answers to business questions
Interpersonal communication: be effective at working in teams, communicating with different
people, and communicating in non-technical language
Leadership: know and be effective in managing projects, change management, risk
management, directing people
● Explain IT competence and its dimensions
IT competence is: the set of IT-related knowledge an experience that a business manager
possesses.
It has two dimensions:
- IT knowledge
- IT experience
These are further explained in the following model:
Technology: Knowledge of current and emergent technologies that are both generic to all
industries and specific to the organization and its competitors
Application: Knowledge of current and emerging IT application portfolio, where applications
refer to the ways IT is or could be used by organizations to achieve their business goals.
