STRATEGIC INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

Strategic information management

Abstract

It is no longer enough for information systems (IS) to support the operation. Information systems should be developed as part of the strategic plan of the organization. We first must recognize the culture and the financial position of the business before assessing whether an IS is worth investing in; together with the information technology department we must take into account what technical support we already have and if we can make enough use of it. Planning must be well structured but on assessing various planning methods we find that this task is best handled by experienced teams that may consist ideally of IS staff and management combined. Information systems are costly and slow to develop, so we must plan well and in line with the strategic policy of our business.

Introduction

Information is a corporate resource of such critical importance that a directed strategy for its development and management is essential.

To plan effectively an organization needs to know its present position, its strengths and weaknesses, those of its competitors, market trends, etc. All this presupposes a developed management information system. To this end, the development of information systems must be developed from its primary source of strategic planning objectives.

The key resource that we should be trying to develop, however, is knowledge and therefore an understanding of user behaviour and user requirements in differing situations must be incorporated into any analysis of information system needs.

It is no longer enough for information systems to support the operation of the business, they must contribute to the revenue as well. Information managers must therefore understand the long-term planning of the business on which they can develop their own information system strategies, including the purchase and use of suitable information technology to help achieve these goals.

The danger of investing in the wrong technology is that it can have a disastrous long-term effect on strategic planning and therefore it is essential that the proposed key technology identifies both the current value of support and the future potential or limitations that may result when changing business situations are considered.

Similarly, investing in insecure systems without suitable security, controls and risk analysis can cause a number of problems: from poor or non-operation of the system to inaccurate data on which management decisions are made and, with growing frequency, stolen data to support competitors.

Furthermore most countries are now introducing legislation to protect data and to enforce copyright of software and data files. It is therefore essential that managers are at least aware of the basic principles of security and control and the process of risk analysis.

Information systems in context

Management information systems are integrated, user-machine systems for providing information to support operations, management and decision making functions in an organization.

This quote, from Davis and Olson (1988), conforms to the general view of systems people. However, it must be remembered that information is often created directly from the “experts” own experience and initiative. As Tricker (1982) stated,

Information systems strategies can be random, inspirational or unarticulated thoughts or can be the result ...