Changes in the business environment have forced
organizations to take new and exciting approaches to the overall development of
their operations. Technology has moved to a more centralized function that fosters
competitive global business strategy. As organizations seek to retain and grow
their market positions they will also need to change their I.T. perspective
from a business enhancing function to one co-mingled and central to the business
itself.
IT strategy has been predominately included at a
functional level subordinate to operations. As part of the transformation from
brick & mortar mentality to virtual perspective the IT functionality
becomes a central strategic platform where other strategic considerations
emulate. Constant new technology requires the ability to create a solid but
adaptable platform that allows integration and removal of new applications with
relative ease.
The advantage of virtual organizations is that it
aligns more with a global market that is not limited by location. It is able to
traverse time, space, and distance to service customers (Kohli & Grover,
2008). Such businesses have a reach that moves beyond physical restrictions as
a small company into a much larger world (i.e.Alaska to China). Technological
differences within these regions require adaptability that spans borders.
As organizations partner and work in collaboration
it is these new platforms that allow for digital information sharing that
creates higher levels of intra-organizational efficiencies. These digital
niches foster stronger market advantages (Rai et al. 2012). The more service holes that can be filled the
more seamless the intra-organizational efforts and the stronger their
marketability.
Bharadwaj, et.al.
(2013) identified four evaluative themes in IT strategy to define the
next generation of insights as the scope of digital business strategy, the
scale of that strategy, the speed of the strategy and the source of value
creation. Organizations that desire to stay ahead of the digital curve will
need to have well defined strategies that capture a greater percentage of market
share while creating higher levels of efficiencies among collaborating
companies. This can only happen if the companies design puts technology as its
very core in developing its strategic market approaches.
IT Integration
-Use a central core platform integrated into the
main strategy.
-Find niches and inefficiencies between
collaborating companies.
-Integrate adaptive technology.
-Use technology to enhance market influence.
-Collaborate with related complementary
organizations.
Bharadwaj, et. al. Digital
business strategy: toward a next generation of insights. MIS
Quarterly, 37 (2).
Kohli, R., and Grover, V. (2008).
Business Value of IT: An Essay on Expanding Research Directions to Keep up with
the Times. Journal of the
Association for Information Systems, 9 (1)
Rai, A, et. al. (2012). Interfirm
IT capability profiles and communications for cocreating relational value:
evidence from the logistics industry. MIS Quarterly, 35 (1)
