Information systems strategy: long overdue—and still not here

Abstract

Information systems (IS) professionals feel pressure to think strategically about their role in their organizations, but often have a minimal concept of strategy and the role IS might play in contributing to the organization's distinctiveness and competitive success. Nevertheless, new technologies are making information an increasingly pervasive resource, and global competitiveness demands improved market responsiveness and innovative use of all resources. This article describes general strategy concepts, offering templates to assess the organization both internally, within its functions, and externally, within the industry and society. In each of these models, information is critical. Examples are used to demonstrate how IS has been used to strengthen an organization's strategic position. The IS professional role is to integrate with functional management, applying systems thinking to position the organization for a more effective future. The article develops a summary ‘framework for IS strategy’ to describe the dimensions on which the IS manager can be a valuable resource on business strategy issues and generally improve management processes to enable effective customer focus, total quality management and decreased cycle time.