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What method of IT funding is the most equitable?
Chargeback
If you want to boost investments in your infrastructure, the focus of your firm is
what?
Business Effectiveness
If you want to boost investments in your transaction systems, the focus of your
firm is what?
Business Efficiency
If you are trying to lower your costs, what type of technology are you going to
invest in?
Transactional Systems
What are the 2 common types of IT monitoring tools?
1. Balanced Scorecard: Focuses attention on the organization's value drivers.
Companies use scorecard to assess the full impact of their corporate strategies
on their customers and workforce as well as their financial performance. Provide
summary information gathered over a period of time
2. IT Dashboards: Summarizes key metrics for senior managers in a manner that
provides quick identification of the status of the organization; provides a
snapshot of metrics at any given point in time
In the early days of IT, who would the CIO report to? And why? And who does the
CIO report to now? And why?
• Before, the CIO reported to the CFO- The role was predominantly responsible for
controlling IT costs.
• Now, CIO reports to the CEO or the Board of Directors due to the role being an
official "C-Suite" level position- Involved with operational and strategic tasks
related to IT. Responsible for all IT responsibilities throughout the organization
What are the 4 asset classes of IT investments?
, 1. Transactional Systems: Streamline or cut costs on the way business is done
(equivalent to Level 1 in the Business Maturity Model)
2. Infrastructure Systems: Provide the base foundation of shared IT services used for
multiple applications such as servers, networks, tablets, or smartphones
(equivalent to Level 2 in the Business Maturity Model)
3. Informational Systems: Provide information used to control, manage,
communicate, analyze, or collaborate (equivalent to Level 2 in the Business
Maturity Model)
4. Strategic Systems: Gain competitive advantage in the marketplace (equivalent to
Level 3 in the Business Maturity Model)
What is a balanced approach to managing a company's IT organization?
Federalism
What type of organization management does IT control most of its' infrastructure
in one location?
Centralized IS Organization
What type of organizational management should a company use if it is attempting
to obtain the advantages derived from both centralized and decentralized
organizational paradigms?
Federalism: A structuring approach that distributes power, hardware, software, data, and
personnel between a central IS group and IS in business units.
What are the benefits of federalism?
• Economies of scale
• Control of standards
• Critical mass of skills
• Users control IT priorities
• Business units have ownership
• Responsive to business unit's needs
• IT vision and leadership
• Group-wide IT strategy and architecture
• Strategic control
In the 1960's, what technology dictated a centralized approach to governance?
Mainframes- because the mainframe resided in one physical location and represented a
considerable investment. Centralized decision making, purchasing, maintenance, and
staff kept these early computing behemoths running.
, In the 1980's, what technology allowed companies to shift to a decentralized
governance?
Personal Computer (PC)
What is the difference between centralized and decentralized governance?
Centralized: bring together all staff, hardware, software, data, and processing into a
single location.
Decentralized: scatter these components across different locations to address local
business needs.
What are the 6 different archetypes of governance?
1. Business Monarchy: C-exec
2. IT Monarchy: IT exec
3. Feudal: Business unit leaders
4. Federal: C-exec + other business group (unit leaders, maybe IT exec)
5. IT Duopoly: IT exec + another group (unit leaders)
6. Anarchy: Individual users
What are the 5 decision areas of IT?
1. IT Principles- How to determine IT assets
2. IT Architecture- How to structure IT assets
3. IT Infrastructure Strategies- How to build IT assets
4. Business Application Needs- How to acquire, implement, and maintain IT
5. IT Investment & Prioritization- How much to invest & where to invest in IT assets
What type of outsourcing does Kodak represent?
Selective Outsourcing
What was the original reason why firms outsourced IT?
Reducing costs
Why do firms outsource IT activities?
• Lower costs due to economies of scale
• Ability to handle processing peaks
• The client company's need to consolidate data centers
• Concentrate on core competencies
What are the risks of outsourcing?