Ivory Towers Case Study



Ivory Towers Case Study

Introduction

This paper reports the first cycle of action research to develop the BCCD (Business Critical Computing Decisions) framework which has been designed to support a company Ivory Towers in developing IS/IT strategies. The framework combines ideas from Process Quality Management, IS/IT strategy and Business Process Reengineering. The BCCD framework has now been piloted in these types of companies providing the first cycle of action research in the new framework's evolution.

Mission Statement

The mission statement for ivory tower is “To fill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality”

Vision Statement

The vision statemnent for ivory tower is “We want to provide a relaxing surroundings to discuss the problems of the world, the meaning of life or maybe just learn how to become better managers”.

Core competencies

A Core Competency is a deep proficiency that enables a company to deliver unique value to customers. It embodies an organization's collective learning, particularly of how to coordinate diverse production skills and integrate multiple technologies. Core Competency of Ivory Towers creates sustainable competitive advantage for a company and helps it branch into a wide variety of related markets. The core competencies for Ivory towers include knowledge-based competencies. Knowledge-based competencies are services in which the value derived by the purchaser is directly dependent on the skills and expertise of the individual providing services[1]. In Knowledge embedded competency the value derived by the purchaser is embedded in the system that delivers the product. Additionally, management capabilities and technical competencies are also an important success factor for Ivory Towers. Former helped the company in creating or expanding the new corporate competence, and provide foundation for corporate learning. The process and routines by which Ivory Tower manages technologies and skills are central to the firm's ability to gain potential benefits associated to the technologies and skills that at the least form a competence, but hopefully represent a core competence.

Issues

Ivory Towers recently suffers from a lack of expertise in IS/IT and poor perception of the capabilities and uses of ISIIT. In order to maximise the benefit from IS/IT investment, which in Ivory Towers is often driven by technology, there is a need for some form of IS/IT strategy. However they often lack the financial, human and information resources to undertake the analyses needed to develop a IS/IT strategy. The size and flexibility of Ivory Towers means that they should, and do, change orientation rapidly, Consequently they require methods or frameworks that are flexible to the organisation's needs and are quick to provide a 'do able' outcome, rather than the traditional heavy weight approaches to IS/IT strategy development[2]. The specific problems of IS/IT strategy development within Ivory Towers were considered during the development of the BCCD framework.

IS/IT audit

Prior to the workshop, activities are undertaken by the facilitators in conjunction with individual members of the team and others in the enterprise to gather information which provides a basis for the workshop. This includes a technical audit of current IS/IT ...