Analysis of MaxTrade case MaxTrade seems to have lost any IT strategy it once had. They have a fractured IT department that has been mismanaged and has no direction. There are so many problems that it would seem difficult to grab a handle and get the IT department back on track. Fortunately the situation is so bad the temporary CIO can work on a blank slate to organize, prioritize, develop and lead the department. Getting the department on the right track includes the following next steps: Strategy- Decide on an IT strategy that will be followed but allows some flexibility as technology and needs change. Set up goals and define objectives for the IT department that align with overall company objectives. Review these objectives …show more content…
Align these objectives with those of the company and the IT department. Vendors- Vendors want MaxTrade to be a success. The best vendors will spend considerable effort and resources to make sure their products are a success and MaxTrade can be a referenceable customer • Reach out to the strategic vendors and partners and include them in MaxTrade IT strategy • Include vendors in troubleshooting efforts. Open lines of communication so key MaxTrade IT employees have direct contact with vendors • Have open and honest communication with vendors concerning what is going good and bad with their products Other Departments within MaxTrade- Have open communication with other strategic departments • Meet regularly with other departments’ heads- Sales- HR-Accounting-Marketing-Customer Service-Institutional trading-R&A-Client Services to communicate IT strategies and projects. Gather feedback from other departments regarding current needs. Be sure that all departments are aware of an IT strategy and that all future projects and initiatives must fall within this strategy. • Get updates on what is working and
4) They should improve customer service and develop a user-friendlier web site that will enable customers to purchase online more easily or get better access to information on the company's products. This approach
Developing an IT Strategy for Meadow Hills Hospital would likely revolve around bolstering the clinical side of IT. An IT Strategy would assist the organization in knowing how and where to invest the money stored in their reserves. This can also ensure that their IT goals are in line with their overall organization goals. As they are currently organized, IT reports up to the CFO. This is a formula to ensure that IT goals
Question #1: What would be your prioritized list of IT investments? Four IT investments need to be prioritized; 1. 2. 3. 4. Ecommerce & Web sales Aligning the various systems (legacy, SAP, ERP) together. Hire relationship managers Make IT a “partner”
The original business strategy, which is still not fully implemented or thought out, is still intact and being somewhat utilized. Part of getting from where we are now to where we want to go, is to put together a comprehensive business and growth strategy plan that, brings about the most results. The original business strategy resembled that of a small business that had the most growth with the least risk. With little risk also means little or no technology. The company has changed, the competition is more intense and the economy is weakened. A new strategy that aligns with technology is essential in order to be successful. As business and technology have become increasingly intertwined, the strategic alignment of the two has emerged as a major corporate issue. With the emergence of IT from the back room to the forefront of business brings the alignment issue under the spotlight like never before. And as
McKeen, James D; Smith, Heather (2012). IT strategy: Issues and practices (2nd ed.). Boston: Prentice Hall. Kindle Edition.
2. Set up a quality team that includes union and management members of the company
3. Develop and increase the in-house sales forces. When sales are reached with their in-house sales force they are able to keep more of the revenue. This will help their bottom line and reduce the risk of losing the business relationship with a reseller.
These five departments should fit together like nuts and bolts. Each department needs the others’ support at all times. They should be able to share their opinions and information openly. There will be regular meetings and events with all departments present to encourage teamwork and motivation.
The business division also felt that IT lacked credibility, and could not be trusted to complete business projects successfully. These feelings were further reinforced by the fact that it took IT a long time to install new, business related technology. To make matters worse, these new applications and systems often did not work as expected right away and the IT staff seemed uninterested in fixing them quickly. Hefty Hardware also had a high CIO turnover due to the many failed projects.
Companies over the last decade, has recognized that their survival to a lesser or greater extent, depends either entirely or partially to appropriate information system. It is established, based on lesson learned from both failed and successful organizations, that an information system strategy are to support or aligned with, business strategy. Similarly the business strategy can influences the choice of Information System used in the organization. A business strategy entails futuristic organizational planning that result in companies gaining competitive advantage. It is direct linked to supporting area such as marketing, procurement, and information system. The case of Comair airline, even after acquisition by Delta
There are a multitude of problems in the IS strategy at Stratex. The most severe and strategically important one is how disconnected the IS strategy is from the business strategy at the corporate level, exacerbated by the decentralized IS system architecture. At this point even if Stratex deliberately wanted to create a unified corporate strategy its systems would not allow for it. The primary benefits of a decentralized IS strategy is the ability to deliver highly specific, tailored information to the unique business requirements of a given division or sector of the business (Gray, 1986). The logic that follows that decentralized IS strategies allow companies to concentrate with greater clarity and insight into a given series of markets; over relying on a centralized IS system to accomplish this (Hur, Riyanto, 2012). Further galvanizing this decentralized structure into place is the very strong resistance to change as seen by the negative comments of line-of-business managers from each of the four divisions regarding the Network Project. Decentralized IS strategies are often the most difficult to modify or augment as resistance to change is so significant throughout enterprises who have for years found this strategy of IS deployment the most effective in managing competitive strategies at the divisional level (de Sousa, Pellissier, Monteiro, 2012).
4. Get feedback from customers, suppliers and other key business partners; consider using interviews or surveys in areas such as customer satisfaction.
Frenzel (2004) claimed that to be successful, a firm’s IT management team must take action on the following critical areas: business management issues; strategic and competitive issues; planning and implementation concerns; and operational items. If for any reason, the organisation experiences difficulties in the above areas, the manager will need to set goals and objectives to overcome and prevent these issues.
Back in the olden days, the success of an organisation was determined by the quality nature of products they provided their customers. It was believed that customers were ignorant and did not know exactly what they want and therefore accepted whatever was given them; thus the final decision rested on the producer or service provider. The case however, in today’s business environment is the reverse of the above mentioned. Due to technological advancements, increased competition and the fact that people have become more informed and knowledgeable, customers now determine exactly what
In chapter 8, corporations are majority using information technology strategy in order to provide business units with competitive advantages. This proven by many researchers had identified opportunities of information technology in creating competitive advantages. According to Rockart and Scott Morton (1984), the opportunities are information technology able to improve each value adding function, link with customers and suppliers to increase