paper
i). Executive Summary
There are four types of quadrants – Alignment trap, Maintenance zone, well-oiled IT and IT-enabled growth that can be used to describe Information Technology effectiveness comparing to the alignment. The position of a company is well determined by whether its IT system aligns with the overall business goal.
There are five different criteria that companies should use to evaluate the implementation of IT projects in supporting key business objectives. Derived from criteria, there are three alternatives to analyze: Emphasizing Simplicity, Right-sourcing Capabilities and Creating End-to-End Accountability.
ii). Current Situation
Many companies have been using information technology as a key factor to be competitive in the market. However, organizations recently are facing a predicament, which is the increasingly amount of investment on IT doesn’t generate the same rate of growth for the business. What caused IT disappointment and failure was general ineffectiveness to supervise projects on time and on budget, along with misguided alignment of IT focusing on business targets, which will bog down the growth of a company.
11% of companies, as shown in the case “Avoiding the Alignment Trap in information Technology”, fall into “Alignment Trap” and 74% fall into the “Maintenance zone”. The alignment trap, caused by over spending on IT organizations in attempt to align with companies overall business objectives, often by launching some IT development and customization, is the worst position for an organization to be. It creates layers of complexity on top of the old, a labyrinth which makes system and infrastructure reinforcement much more difficult to implement. Temporary fixes were usually developed for Individual business units due to lack of overall scope, which affects effectiveness, raises cost and ignores potential benefits. Companies could also slide into the “Maintenance zone”, in which IT is not expected to add any value to
There are four types of quadrants – Alignment trap, Maintenance zone, well-oiled IT and IT-enabled growth that can be used to describe Information Technology effectiveness comparing to the alignment. The position of a company is well determined by whether its IT system aligns with the overall business goal.
There are five different criteria that companies should use to evaluate the implementation of IT projects in supporting key business objectives. Derived from criteria, there are three alternatives to analyze: Emphasizing Simplicity, Right-sourcing Capabilities and Creating End-to-End Accountability.
ii). Current Situation
Many companies have been using information technology as a key factor to be competitive in the market. However, organizations recently are facing a predicament, which is the increasingly amount of investment on IT doesn’t generate the same rate of growth for the business. What caused IT disappointment and failure was general ineffectiveness to supervise projects on time and on budget, along with misguided alignment of IT focusing on business targets, which will bog down the growth of a company.
11% of companies, as shown in the case “Avoiding the Alignment Trap in information Technology”, fall into “Alignment Trap” and 74% fall into the “Maintenance zone”. The alignment trap, caused by over spending on IT organizations in attempt to align with companies overall business objectives, often by launching some IT development and customization, is the worst position for an organization to be. It creates layers of complexity on top of the old, a labyrinth which makes system and infrastructure reinforcement much more difficult to implement. Temporary fixes were usually developed for Individual business units due to lack of overall scope, which affects effectiveness, raises cost and ignores potential benefits. Companies could also slide into the “Maintenance zone”, in which IT is not expected to add any value to