Investigating the impact of the external environment on strategic information systems planning

Abstract

Strategic information systems planning (SISP) is a key issue to IS managers. The SISP approach employed by organizations is very much dependent on the internal and external environment. Recent research points to a gap between the manner in which IS researchers and practitioners perceive SISP. In this paper we aim to elucidate this gap by comparing the way in which researchers and practitioners view the external environment and its impact on SISP. The researcher perspective was established through literature review. For the practitioner view, data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with 7 IS professionals who had experience of SISP. The interview data was analysed using techniques borrowed from the grounded theory methodology. Through this analysis it was found that practitioners, while recognizing the impact of the general external environment on SISP, are especially cognisant of the external IT environment and its impact. Academic literature, on the other hand, tends to focus on the external business environment, with very little research conducted on the external IT environment in the context of SISP. The implications of these and other findings are discussed in the paper.