The Strategic Management of Information Systems: Building a Digital Strategy

The Strategic Management of Information Systems: Building a Digital Strategy (4th Edition) is a comprehensively updated revision of a book regarded by many as one the leading and authoritative titles for practitioners, academics and students in the domain of information systems and technology (IS/IT) strategy. It brings together the implications of the significant advances in IT and the most useful current thinking, research and experiences concerning the business impact and strategic opportunities created by IS/IT. 

Managing IS/IT successfully is becoming increasingly difficult in today′s dynamic business and technology environments, where uncertainty, complexity and rapid business change are combined with the ever–extending capabilities of digital technologies and the multiple choices in the supply of IT services and infrastructure. At the same time consumer IT has become an essential aspect of most people s personal as well as their working lives, raising both awareness and expectations of what technology can do. However, despite the increasing business criticality of IS/IT, surveys continue to show that many organizations still struggle to deliver sufficient benefits from IS/IT investments and are concerned that IS/IT expenditure does not produce demonstrable value for money .

The challenge is, as it has always been, to harness digital technologies both in achieving alignment with current enterprise objectives and innovating to create new strategies and business capabilities. Where, when and how to invest in IS/IT are the key questions that managers have to grapple with, which is why an IS/IT (or digital) strategy is required. Devising and implementing this strategy depends on cultivating an organizational environment that supports and promotes open, informed and effective conversations enabling business management and IS/IT specialists to share their knowledge.

Joe Peppard and John Ward present a structured framework with tools, techniques and ways of thinking which provide a practical approach to building a digital strategy, expressed primarily in the language of business and management. The approach can be used by executives, managers and IS/IT professionals, working together, to combine their experience and skills to identify what can and needs to be done and how best to do it, so that IS/IT is managed strategically.
 

Preface to Fourth Edition

Chapter 1: The Evolving Role of Information Systems and Technology in Organizations: A Strategic Perspective

Information Systems (IS), Information Technology (IT) and Digital

Digital Disruption : The Impact of IS/IT

A Three–era Model of Evolving IT Application in Organizations

A Classification of Strategic Uses of IS/IT

Success Factors in Strategic Information Systems

A Portfolio Management Perspective on IS/IT Investments

What is an IS/IT or Digital Strategy?

From Strategic Alignment to Strategy Co–evolution

Digital Strategies for the 21st Century: Building a Dynamic Capability to Leverage IS/IT

Chapter 2: An Overview of Strategic Management and the IS/IT Strategy Implications

The Evolving Nature of Strategic Management in Organizations

Scope of Strategy Development

A Framework for Strategy Formulation

Where to Compete

How to Gain an Advantage

What Assets do We Have? What Assets do We Require?

How to Change the Need for Dynamic Capabilities

Strategy Implementation

Chapter 3: Establishing an Effective Process for Developing Information Systems and Technology (or Digital) Strategies

Some Definitional Clarity

The Evolution of the IS/IT Strategy Process: From Technology Deployment to Strategic Focus

The Business Context for Developing and Managing the Strategy

Establishing an Effective Process: Continuous and Flexible

Setting the Scope for the Strategy

A Framework for IS/IT Strategy Formulation

Other Deliverables from the IS/IT Strategy Process

Chapter 4: IS/IT Strategic Analysis: Achieving Alignment with Business Operations and Strategy

Understanding the Current Situation

The Business Operating Model: Processes, Activities and Key Entities

Organizational Environment

Examining the Existing IS/IT Environment

Information and Systems to Meet Current Business Objectives: the Use of Balanced Scorecards and Critical Success Factors

Process Analysis

Redesigning Processes

Evaluating the Gap between Existing and Required IS/IT Environments

Chapter 5: Innovating with Technology, Systems and Information

Understanding What it Means to Innovate with IT

The Process of Digital Business Innovation

The Push and Pull of Innovating with IS/IT

Getting Management Attention for Ideas and Innovations

Joining the Dots: the Search for Ideas

Innovating by Leveraging Information: Exploration and Exploitation

The Big Data Challenge

Discovering Strategic IS/IT Opportunities from Information

Building an Analytic Capability

Chapter 6 Exploiting Information Systems for Strategic Advantage

Achieving and Sustaining Advantages across the Value Disciplines

Exploring New Value Propositions: Informating Products and Services

Analysis of Competitive Forces to Identify IS/IT Opportunities and Threats

Value Chain Analysis

Customer Life–cycle Management and the Value Chain

From Value Chain to Value Network

The Internal Value Chain

The Uses of Value Chain Analysis

Chapter 7: Determining the Business Information Systems Strategy

Business Strategy and IS/IT

Tools for IS/IT Strategy Formulation and Their Relationships

A Framework for Using the Tools and Techniques Effectively

Identifying how IS/IT Could Impact the Business Strategy

Establishing the Relative Priorities for IS/IT Investments

Large Organizations, Multiple SBUs and Strategy Consolidation

Chapter 8: Managing the Portfolio of Business Applications

Conclusions from Various Portfolio Models

Classifying the Applications in the Portfolio

Reconciling Demand and Supply Issues in the Portfolio

Generic Application Management Strategies

Portfolio management principles applied to the applications portfolio

Aligning Development Approaches to the Portfolio Segments

The Special Case of Enterprise Systems

Managing Application Portfolios in Multi–unit Organizations

Chapter 9: Justifying and Managing Information Systems and Technology Investments

Investment and Priority Setting Policies

Justifying and Evaluating IS/IT Investments

Justifying Business Applications

Justifying Infrastructure Investments

Assessing and Managing Investment Risks

Managing the Portfolio of Investments

Setting Priorities Amongst IS/IT Investments

Organizational IS/IT Portfolio and Investment Management Maturities

Chapter 10: An Organizing Framework for the Strategic Management of IS/IT

The Strategic Management Requirement

Positioning and Managing IS/IT in an Organization

From a Functional View of IS/IT to an Organization–wide Perspective Capability and Competences

IS/IT Governance and Why It is Important

What Decisions Need to be Governed?

Creating the Organizing Framework for IS/IT Decision Making

Instruments of Governance

Chapter 11: Strategic Management of IT Services and Infrastructure

Creating and Sustaining Business Change: Projects and Services

The Need for the Strategic Management of IT Services and Infrastructure

IS/IT Service Categories

Managing Operational and Value–enabling Services

Strategies for Managing IT Infrastructure and Infrastructure Services

Understanding and Managing IT Risks

Sourcing of IS/IT Resources and Services

Business Process Outsourcing

Innovation and Outsourcing

Back–sourcing and Switching Suppliers

Chapter 12: The Strategic Management of Information Systems: Quo Vadis?

The Evolution of IS/IT Strategy in Theory and Practice

A Brief Résumé of some Core Ideas

Building an IS/IT or Digital Capability

From Creating IS/IT Assets to Improving Organizational Performance: Joining the Means to the Ends

Achieving Alignment: a Multi–themed Perspective

The Co–evolution of Business and Digital Strategies

The Opportunity for CIOs to Have a Key Strategic Role

Conclusion

Index