1. 3. Introduction to Strategic Information Systems Planning (SISP)
Title: Strategic Information Systems Planning
Historical development of IS
Define SISP and its purpose
Business/IS Strategy linkage
IS Strategy problems
IS,IT and IM
Traditional Vs Sense and Respond Approach

2. IS/IT Issues Strategic Potential of IT
Replacing The Legacy Systems of today with ?
Linking IT/IS Strategy With Business Strategy
IT Architecture
Strategic Information Systems
Sustainable Competitive Advantage

3. Strategic Use Of IS/IT CHANGE WHAT THE COMPANY DOES PRODUCTS
SERVICES (Manchester buses - wireless)
DELIVERY CHANNELS (www)
CHANGE HOW THE COMPANY OPERATES
ORGANISATION
DECISIONS
COMMUNICATIONS
CHANGE PATTERNS OF INVESTMENT
MORE INVESTMENT FOR MARKET LEADERSHIP

4. Strategic Potential of IT
To gain competitive advantage
To improve productivity and performance
To enable new ways of managing and organising
To develop new businesses
To change distribution channels

5. IS Historical Development
Historically IS planning has been neglected
Systems have been developed to meet individual function or department needs (applications planning)
The companies IS Strategy was simply a dept aggregation...
Traditional IS Planning was on a project by project basis
No coherent corporate or SBU IS/IT plan in place
IS had minimal influence on Business Strategy
Failures
incompatible systems, poor functional IT and business integration, financial losses, lost business opportunities (for SIS)
implementation lags, continuous management fire-fighting
customer dissatisfaction
If we fail to plan for IS, then we plan to fail with IS !

6. IS Strategy Linkage
The IS Strategy must be linked to the business strategy. Possible linkages are
The IS strategy may be aligned with the business goals by translating them into IS goals
The IS strategy may impact on the business goals by competitively enhancing them
The IS strategy may require the redesign of business processes in order to achieve the business goals
IS can support business strategy
e.g. IS can be aligned with one of Porter’s generic strategies
IS can create strategic options
e.g. IS can spearhead revolutionary approaches to the market place or internal operations
No IS strategy planning is robust unless it is connected to the business strategy
Conversely no business strategy is complete unless it is connected to the IS strategy
IT delivery mechanisms may have to be conceptualised and planned strategically
IT architecture is therefore a strategic issue
Organisational capability in IT and IS may impact on delivering IS for strategic advantage.
The management of information resources is therefore a strategic issue

7. IS Portfolio Mandatory Strategic Traditional Infrastructure Renewal
R & D
Maintenance

8. IS Strategy Positioning
Business Strategy
Divisional Strategy Divisional Strategy Divisional Strategy
Production Strategy IS Strategy Marketing Strategy
IT Strategy Manual Systems Strategy Communications Strategy
Software Hardware Planning Staffing Data Voice
Policies, implementation decisions
Robson, ch 4, page 96

9. Strategic Information Systems Planning (SISP)
Definition
Strategic systems planning deals with planning for the use of IT for strategic purposes.
It attempts to form a view of the future 3 to 5 years out to help determine what should be done now.

10. SISP contin… Objectives To identify strategic applications
To develop an organisational IS architecture
To Identify new applications which provide a greater return on investment
To determine more opportunities for improving information systems provision
To improve resource requirements forecasting
To improve communications with users

11. SISP contin..
Some fundamental reasons why IS planning is difficult include:
Business goals and System Plans need to Align
Technologies are rapidly changing
Companies need portfolios rather than projects
Infrastructure development is difficult to fund
Responsibility needs to be joint
Other planning issues

12. Traditional Approach Three Levels of Strategy
What?
IS STRATEGY
Division/Function
Demand Oriented
Business Focussed
Applications
IM STRATEGY
Organisation Based
Relationships Oriented
Management Focussed
Architecture
Where?
Management
IT STRATEGY
Activity based
Supply oriented
Technology focussed
How?
Delivery

13. IS STRATEGY
The long term directional plan which determines what to do with IS
It is concerned primarily with aligning IS development with business needs and with seeking strategic advantage from IS
It is formulated at the level of the SBU or the level of business where specific customer needs, unique competitors and autonomous resources can be delineated
In large complex organisations there may be more than one IS strategy.

14. IT STRATEGY
The technology framework or architecture which drives, shapes and controls the IT infrastructure to support the IS strategy
The IT strategy is concerned primarily with technology policies
It deals with questions of architecture,vendor policies and technical standards

15. IM STRATEGY
The management framework( i.e. the policies procedures aims and actions) which guides how the organisation should run IS/IT activities.
The IM strategy is concerned with
the role and structure of IT activities in the organisation
management controls for IT, performance measurement and management processes
wherefore-which way?,who does it?,where is it located?

16. MANAGING THE IT FUNCTION
STRATEGIC IM QUESTIONS
Planning
What IS do our current business strategies require?
What Strategic opportunities does IT offer?
Organisation
How will IT affect our organisation structure?
How/where can we find more IT staff?
How do we retain IT skills?
Should we have an IT director at board level?
Control
How much are we spending on IT?
How much should we be spending on IT?
How can we evaluate IT proposals?
How can we manage large IT projects?
Answers to these problems/questions?
Need to engage in serious strategic thinking...
Question? Is there more than one way of thinking in order to answer these questions?

17. Problems in IS Planning
Inadequate Business Plans
Agreeing Priorities
Lack of Planning Experience
Rate of Business/User Change
Organisation Structure
Discovering Competitive Advantage
No Standards for what an IS strategy plan should contain

18. Traditional IS Planning Assumptions
Traditional stance based on assumptions:
The future can be predicted
Time is available to progress through this 3 part sequence
IS supports and follows the business
Top management knows best, because they have the broadest view of the firm
The company can be viewed as an army:
* due to the internet etc, these assumptions no longer hold true

19. Sense and Respond Approach
What came out of this is a move towards a new approach:
Let strategies unfold rather than plan them
e.g. Microsoft
Formulate strategy Closest to the Action
E.g. Skandia
Guide strategy making with a strategic envelope
E.g. Shell
Be at the table
Test the future
Put the infrastructure in place
Case Study - Microsoft

20. IT strategic direction
SISP
Where are we today?
Where do we want to go?
How do we get there?
Assessment of
current technology & IT organisation
Business directions
IT deployment plan
Projects
Quick Hits
IT opportunities
IT strategic direction
Benchmarking competitors and IT trends
IT organisational alignment plan
IT architecture

21. Toolkits for Strategic Planning
There is a range of tools and techniques which have been developed to assist in formulating an explicit business strategy
Similarly there is a range of tools, techniques and principles to guide management in exploiting IS for strategic advantage.