EBusiness & IT Management Issues and Challenges in Managing I.T.

Growth and complexity

Pervasiveness

Applications and Data

Computer Network Operations

Controls and Environmental Factors

Competitive Considerations

People and Organisations

Centralisation versus decentralisation

User Support

Technical Support

Communications

Information Security

HIT 342 - EBusiness & IT Management

ASSESSMENT - Correction

 

Assessment Item Value Length Due date

Group case study 1 5% 10 minutes / 2 pages Tutorial, Week 5

Group case study 2 5% 10 minutes / 2 pages Tutorial, Week 7

Group case study 3 10% 40 minutes / 4 pages Tutorial, Week 10

Group case study 4 10% 40 minutes / 4 pages Tutorial, Week 13

Negotiated Individual Investigation Project

20% 2000 words, subject to negotiation with lecturer

Friday 27th October

Final exam 50%   Exam period 

HIT 560 – Advanced EBusiness & IT Management

ASSESSMENT - Correction

 

Assessment Item Value Length Due date

Group case study 1 5% 10 minutes / 2 pages Tutorial, Week 5

Group case study 2 5% 10 minutes / 2 pages Tutorial, Week 7

Group case study 3 10% 40 minutes / 4 pages Tutorial, Week 10

Group case study 4 10% 40 minutes / 4 pages Tutorial, Week 13

Negotiated Individual Investigation Project

30% 3000 words, subject to negotiation with lecturer

Friday 27th October

Final exam 40%   Exam period 

Issues and Challenges in Managing I.T. Growth and complexity

Human involvement in creating the Internet and IT infrastructure is one of the largest, fastest growing, and most complex human endeavours ever undertaken.

Businesses can reap large benefits through the adoption and implementation of IT, however this is at the cost of greatly increased complexity in the management the technology adoption and utilisation process.

However, on the positive side, IT professionals who are prepared and equipped to manage these challenges will be in great demand.

Issues and Challenges in Managing I.T. Growth and complexity

What are the opportunities associated with the growth and complexity of IT and the associated management challenges? Are there significant risks involved?

What factors do you think will restrain the growth in IT in a business? Should such factors be encouraged or avoided?

It can be argued that one way to reduce complexity, especially in interconnectivity, is through the establishment and application of appropriate standards. Do you agree? Can you find some good examples of standards being used to overcome complexity?

Issues and Challenges in Managing I.T. Pervasiveness

I.T. is now widely distributed throughout the workplace, and is becoming deeply embedded in modern businesses. Business professional now generally have a workstation on their desk, or use a notebook PC. Increasingly, mobile computing is available with Internet connectivity.

Intranets and the Internet provide information channels linking business operations both nationally and internationally, and enable electronic commerce between the suppliers, the business, and their customers.

Business activity based upon these IT-enabled linkages is expected to continue to grow, accessing new markets and new opportunities.

Issues and Challenges in Managing I.T. Pervasiveness

Can you think of a major human activity that does not use information technology in any way?

Can any business survive without direct application of I.T? Make a list.

What does ubiquitous computing mean?

Why would a company use a corporate intranet rather than the Internet? List your reasons.

What is an electronic supply chain?

Issues and Challenges in Managing I.T. Applications and Data

I.T. allows large, complex, valuable and competitively crucial applications to exist on databases that grow rapidly in size and importance.

The acquisition and maintenance of these immense application and data resources demands very attention from the senior management team of a business.

These and other intellectual assets are the foundation of information-based businesses.

Issues and Challenges in Managing I.T. Applications and Data

How can you assess the value of an application and associated database?

Should this value be entered on the corporate balance sheet?

What are the limitation on taking advantage of data in super-large databases?

Issues and Challenges in Managing I.T. Computer Network Operations

Modern businesses are critically dependant upon well-managed computer network operations.

Businesses, especially those in the financial services industry, can be processing hundred of revenue producing transactions per second, totally dependant on the reliability and performance of the network operations.

A network failure of even a few seconds can seriously damage a business’s financial health and reputation with customers. This kind of operation demands top-level management performance.

Issues and Challenges in Managing I.T. Computer Network Operations

What are the typical tasks of a network manager?

What are the relative advantages and disadvantages of centralised network management?

What are the relative advantages and disadvantages of decentralised network management?

Issues and Challenges in Managing I.T. Controls and Environmental Factors

Knowledge-based businesses are critically dependant upon strong, dependable control mechanisms.

Failure to maintain control in valuable, automated operations will lead to rapid generation of errors in production or service delivery.

IT managers must monitor business controls carefully to neutralise external (ie from the environment) and internal threats to a business?s operations.

This control issue increases in complexity as networked systems and internetworking increases.

Issues and Challenges in Managing I.T. Controls and Environmental Factors

How can the social and political environment influence I.T. operations within a business? Give some examples.

Given a historic preference for centralised control of I.T. operations, what are the reasons for considering decentralised control?

Issues and Challenges in Managing I.T. Competitive Considerations

I.T. offers great competitive value to most businesses.

These businesses expect I.T. experts and their IT organisations to provide the tools for capturing and maintaining competitive advantage. Therefore, I.T. organisations and their managers are on the business’s critical path to success.

Failure to operate effectively can seriously limit the business’s long-term performance. This can become an important, and often personal challenge to a business and its senior management.

Issues and Challenges in Managing I.T. Competitive Considerations

Why does this become a personal challenge?

Apart from technical knowledge, what other business knowledge must the I.T. manager actively develop to achieve competitive value?

Issues and Challenges in Managing I.T. People and Organisations

I.T. impacts businesses, managers, and staff at every level as it alters the nature of work in the modern workplace.

Not all of the consequences of I.T. adoption are well received. All too often managers and staff feel threatened by new technology. These personal and organisational disruptions exacerbate the management challenges that accompany the introduction of a new technology.

Issues and Challenges in Managing I.T. People and Organisations

Why would staff be threatened by the introduction of a new technology? List the reasons.

List some practical ways for an I.T. manager to develop and fine-tune their people-management skills.

What are some techniques that high-performance firms use to maximise their human productivity? List and briefly describe.

Issues and Challenges in Managing I.T. Centralisation versus Decentralisation

System development is becoming increasingly decentralised - reporting to specific business units to maximise responsiveness to user needs - but there are inherent disadvantages to overcome. These include the introduction of new technology, maintaining specialised skills, and ensuring conformity with corporate standards.

With regard to computer operations, these can be either centralised or decentralised, depending upon the nature of applications. For example, low cost telecommunications makes the operation of a single centralised “data-centre” site that can economically serve widespread users.

Issues and Challenges in Managing I.T. Centralisation versus Decentralisation

Why is it difficult to introduce new technology where systems development is decentralised?

Why is it also difficult to maintain skills in the decentralised business?

What sort of application is suited to decentralised computer operations?

Issues and Challenges in Managing I.T. User Support

PC-users demands for support are now requiring innovative responses that reach all parts of a business. Many centralised IT organisations are realising the futility of opposing the trend towards user self-support, and try to assist their users by providing consulting teams and hotlines to help users become more self sufficient. The two major benefits of this approach are:

1. Increased user satisfaction.

2. Users become better able to define systems requirements as they learn more about the potential and constraints of IT.

Issues and Challenges in Managing I.T. User Support

List additional ways to assist users to become self-supporting?

Why is it a benefit for users to be able to better define systems requirements?

Issues and Challenges in Managing I.T. Technical Support

Specialised technical support needs to combine both centralised and decentralised approaches to provide needed service effectively.

The role of technical support is changing dramatically because of new responsibilities, the need to distribute some activities, and the economies of centralising others.

New responsibilities may include managing the distribution of personal computer-based software over the corporate network to ensure that consistent versions are used throughout the business.

Issues and Challenges in Managing I.T. Technical Support

What areas of technical support should be decentralised?

What areas of technical support should be centralised?

Issues and Challenges in Managing I.T. Communications

Communication technology and communication carriers, pushed by the increasing demand of users, are responding with a range of competitively priced offerings to permit their customers better global connectivity. The demand for additional communications capacity is created by several trends and expectations, including:

• Increased volumes of information exchanged. • Greater use of electronic data interchange (EDI). • Transmission of multimedia material. • Increased use of videoconferencing. • Trends towards group work and groupware. • Telecommuting for staff. • Implementation of the extended enterprise.

Issues and Challenges in Managing I.T. Communications

Why is it suggested that the management of communications should be centralised?

Why is the management of communications often suggested as suitable for outsourcing of operations?

Issues and Challenges in Managing I.T. Information Security

Maintaining the availability of information and IT resource - including data integrity, storage, transmission, and confidentiality of information - has been the domain of centralised IT security operations.

With the increasing distribution of IT resources there is a growing need to classify the functions that need to be centralised, the functions that should be dispersed (decentralised) and define what is not part of IT security.

Issues and Challenges in Managing I.T. Information Security

What IT security functions should be centralised?

What IT security functions should be decentralised?

Are there any IT functions or resources that are not security concerns? List them.