Reflect on the following in a minimum of 350 words each. (350 * 6 = 2100 Words)
1. IT and the Organizational Structure
Research the classic pyramid organizational structure, reflect on the following questions and answer them:
- Where does IT fit into that structure?
- Does your answer depend on factors such as company size or sales volumes?
- Does your answer depend on a businesss specific industry?
2. IT Infrastructure
Reflect on the term IT infrastructure. Discuss what is meant by it.
- What are the major components of any IT infrastructure?
- What elements of IT are not considered infrastructure?
- Why is the distinction important?
3. Global Business Expansion
Expanding an organization globally is a significant effort. You must comply with the laws of the companies you do business with and learn how to adapt your business to new ways of interacting with employees and customers.
Reflect on the reasons and include why an organization would expand globally.
- What benefits and drawbacks are there from expanding globally?
- From the perspective of an IT manager, how can expanding globally impact the IT department?
- Is a company that sells its products online to customers in other countries considered to be doing business in those countries? Why or why not?
4. The Role of IT in Establishing Technology Budgets
The goal of IT is to support a companys operational requirements and strategic plans, and that requires an IT budget.
Reflect on the role IT plays in planning, articulating, and executing a technology budget and discuss.
- What are the stages of executing a technology budget?
- What other departments should IT work with at each stage of the process?
- At which stages of the process is the budget reviewed, and who should do the reviews?
5. IS/IT Governance
After many scandals and fraudulent behaviors, corporate governance changed from a best practice to a requirement.
Reflect on the above and describe IS/IT governance that large organizations should implement.
- What would IS/IT governance do?
- Many of the corporate scandals dealt with accounting or financial fraud. Why is IS/IT governance important?
- What IS/IT decisions should governance focus upon?
- What value does IS/IT governance bring to an organization?
6. IT Innovation and Strategic Planning
Strategic planning means planning based on a companys strategy or direction for a significant period. IT innovation means doing something never done before in IT.
Reflect on and include how large of a role IT innovation should play in a companys strategic plan and why.
- Should a company plan to do something it has never done before?
- If so, how can this be accomplished?
- In what ways can a plan support the eventual implementation of something that does not yet exist?
