Enabling Business Strategy Through Information Technology
In spite of size and industry, every enterprise depends upon i . t ., and should have a very strategy for tips on how to employ it, especially since the internet grows more pervasive. Information technology technique is an enabler of economic strategy. Not merely must an enterprise manage relationships utilizing its constituencies, but it must be capable of connect with them electronically through data arteries - information supply, value, and demand chains. The information supply and demand chains are external; the data value chains are internal.
An i . t method is an exclusive case functional strategy because every function during the enterprise requires electronic information delivery capabilities, and many require electronic process control also. In substantial enterprises, strategy might be formulated at both enterprise and organizational unit levels.
As websites like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Plaxo, and Twitter be a little more pervasive in running a business, linkages between application systems and databases and social network websites may well be more important to enable constituencies to communicate both collaboratively and cooperatively. Just as email has developed into primary way of communication between enterprises along with their constituencies, so will social networks especially for advertising and ecommerce.
Business intelligence information can be used to identify opportunities for competitive advantage. However, i . t itself is definitely an enabler of competitive advantage, particularly if you will discover opportunities to digitize products or deliver information products electronically. In such cases, business strategy is inseparable from i . t . strategy.
I . t . comprises the analytical and operational application systems, databases, and technical infrastructure (hardware and networks) of the enterprise. Not all the computer technologies are information based. Computer systems can be used for process control applications in special purpose equipment. However, connectivity is vital as applications become more integrated. As digital construction and manufacturing practices develop through such technologies as computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM), the processes, the control over processes, and the products and/or services delivered by processes all depend on i . t . for connectivity.
By way of example, within the manufacturing industry, not only will design and manufacturing work be conducted through integrated CAD/CAM processes with electronic linkages to carriers, including FedEx and UPS, although the entire project and process management activities can be monitored electronically from ideation to product delivery.
Through technologies including electronic data interchange and electronic funds transfer, data and both digital and information products flow through information supply and demand chains in parallel to material supply and product and service demand chains. Within the enterprise, data flows through information value chains from supply chains and to demand chains.