IT Policy and Value

IT Policy and Value

Introduction

The influx that IT has made in modern businesses cannot be doubted. However, when it comes to implementing IT solutions in a business, several issues and hurdles have to be dealt beforehand in order to make the value of IT evident to the organization. In this respect, the paper attempts to explain the reader the methods, based on case studies, by which IT value may be realized at the organizational level. These include communicating to the management of the organization the value of implementing IT solutions along with bringing to their attention the monetary value of the change. However, as the discussion would reveal, IT value is not limited to saving cost or achieving cost transparency.

Similarly, the article also attempts to emphasize the importance of drafting a well defined IT policy to cater for any type of emergency. As an example, a case study regarding the adoption of the cloud computing option, a recent IT solution for corporate entities, has been discussed in detail.

Discussion

IT value creation

Introducing IT to any concern is something that can be counted as positive. However, at the organizational level this principle can raise several issues. On one hand, the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of a company must account for the potential savings the IT solution would bring to the company. On the other hand, he/ she must justify the need to adopt it.

It is important to realize that bringing about a change in an organization is not an easy task. Staff that is accustomed to old practices will most probably resist the change, or be unable to cope with it, which could most certainly lead to reduction in productivity. However, before that, the senior management must be persuaded to implement an IT policy. Therefore, to achieve it, the CIO of the organization would have to devise a strategy to create and subsequently, communicate IT value.

Militza Basualdo's article discussing the outcomes of a recently held a conference of CIOs in Monterrey, Mexico provides a good insight as to what steps can be taken for introducing IT in an organization. The conference urged its participants to focus on two extremely crucial aspects. Firstly, the participants were encouraged to adopt a proactive approach in order to create and communicate IT in their respective organizations (Basualdo, 2010). This included making reports at regular intervals to highlight the role of IT in the organization. Moreover, the CIOs were also made to realize the need of attending management committee meetings so that they could get an extra opportunity to convey to the senior hierarchy the need to implement IT and to demonstrate its effectiveness by applying it to the core processes of the organization. To this end, the CIO could further make his task easier by explaining the process metrics in an effective way. As Andrew Jaquith points out in his interview with Scott Beritanoe, explaining technical parameters, which in his case are information security metrics, can be easily explained without delving into technical jargon and heavy ...