risks associated with business and IS/IT

In a broad sense, the term Information Systems (IS) refers to the interaction between people, processes, and technology. This interaction can occur within or across organizational boundaries. An information system is not only the technology an organization uses, but also the way in which the organization’s people interact with the technology and the way in which the technology works with the organization’s business processes. Information systems are distinct from information technology in that an information system has an information technology component that interacts with the people and processes components.

The Information System consists of five parts which include: people, procedures, software, hardware, and data. There are various types of information systems, for example: transaction processing systems, office systems, decision support systems, knowledge management systems, database management systems, and office information systems. Critical to most information systems are information technologies, which are typically designed to enable humans to perform tasks for which the human brain is not well suited, such as: handling large amounts of information, performing complex calculations, and controlling many simultaneous processes.

The process industry has always had to deal with changes to plant and equipment. More recently people and organisational changes have become critical (e.g. staffing levels, supervision, control room arrangements, shift patterns). Identifying and managing the potential risks has been a challenge.

As a consequence of the competitive operating environment, enterprises need to implement change to develop and maintain their competitive advantage. This requires changing the behavior of people in organizations by changing attitudes about what can and should happen at work. The need for change could originate from multiple business interventions- Strategic changes (changes in corporate/ functional direction), Organizational changes (structures / roles & responsibilities / performance assessment and compensation mechanisms), Process Changes (redefined and redesigned processes) or IT Interventions (change in work methods / tools / techniques)

Charting and managing the road map for change transformation is the single most important element of the process. While change is fairly common, it is very difficult to implement successfully. Success hinges on being able to convince groups and individuals to change the way they work, possible only if people are ready to think differently about their jobs.

Any change needs to be managed. Process changes or changes consequent to the implementation of an IT solution are no exception. In case changes are not managed effectively, the success of the change implementation gets at risk.

Change management is the process of motivating and equipping people to a level of competency that facilitates their migration along the path of change.

Our consultants touch upon the crucial elements that are expected to be affected by the process change – organization and people requirements. We help manage change through a three step process:

• Assessment of change readiness and identification of risks

• Definition of the change management road map

• Facilitation of the execution of the change management plan through appropriate change communication, change sensitization and the definition of governance structures and revised roles

The other aspect that needs to be managed is risk. Our consultants bring to the table extensive hands on experience in managing PLM implementations and that experience enables them to identify up-front factors that could potentially cause risk to projects. Using industry standard program management techniques, our consultants identify risks and monitor their probability of occurrence and potential impact. They plan for mitigation of risks and execute those plans to ensure that risks do not get realized. They put in place back up plans and plans for scenarios that assume that risks do get realized. Systematic risk management ensures project success and predictability on project metrics.

A business (also called a firm, or enterprise) is a legally recognized organization designed to provide goods and/or services to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, most being privately owned and formed to earn profit that will increase the wealth of its owners and grow the business itself. The owners and operators of a business have as one of their main objectives the receipt or generation of a financial return in exchange for work and acceptance of risk. Notable exceptions include cooperative enterprises and state-owned enterprises. Socialist systems involve either government agencies, public ownership, state-ownership or direct worker ownership of enterprises and assets that would be run as businesses in a capitalist economy. The distinction between these institutions and a business is that socialist institutions often have alternative or additional goals aside from maximizing or turning a profit.

Business/IT alignment is a desired state in which a business organization is able to use information technology (IT) effectively to achieve business objectives - typically improved financial performance or marketplace competitiveness. Some definitions focus more on outcomes (the ability of IT to produce business value) than means (the harmony between IT and business decision-makers within the organizations); for example,

alignment is the capacity to demonstrate a positive relationship between information technologies and the accepted financial measures of performance.

This alignment is in contrast to what is often experienced in organizations: IT and business professionals unable to bridge the gap between themselves because of differences in objectives, culture, and incentives and a mutual ignorance for the other group's body of knowledge. This rift generally results in expensive IT systems that do not provide adequate return on investment. For this reason, the search for Business / IT Alignment is closely associated with attempts to improve the business value of IT investments.

It is not unusual for business and IT professionals within an organization to experience conflict and in-fighting as lack of mutual understanding and the failure to produce desired results leads to blaming and mistrust. The search for B/I alignment often includes efforts to establish trust between these two groups and a mechanism for consensus decision-making.

Information Technology Management is concerned with exploring and understanding Information Technology as a corporate resource that determines both the strategic and operational capabilities of the firm in designing and developing products and services for maximum customer satisfaction, corporate productivity, profitability and competitiveness.

IT Management is a different subject from Management Information Systems. Management Information Systems refer to information management methods tied to the automation or support of human decision making. IT Management, as stated in the above definition, refers to the IT related management activities in organizations. MIS as it is refered to is focus mainly on the business aspect with a strong input into the technology phase of the business/organisation.

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