Topic 4: ICT Strategy Version 2

Topic 4: ICT Strategy Version 2

1. FACTORS INFLUENCING ICT SYSTEM STRATEGY

   • business goals
   • available finance
   • legacy systems
     • older system places constraints on the development of the new system
     • takeover or work along side
   • geographical factors
     • geography of clients
     • affects the way goods/services are delivered to clients
       • if customers are all around the world then an e-commerce site would need to be produced
         • this could increase the complexity of the ICT system used
   • external factors
     • compliance
       • conforming to a specification or policy, standard or law that has been clearly defined
       • Regulations (must be adhered to)
         • Financial Services Authority (FSA)
         • HM Revenue
         • Customs
         • Trading Standards
         • Environmental Protection Agency
           • reducing carbon emissions
     • legislation
   • business fulfilment

2. MANAGEMENT OF INFORMATION ASSETS OVER TIME

   • In business/organisations, information needs to be kept for a long period of time
     • ICT Systems need to have plenty of spare capacity to cope with increasing volume of data
       • more hard drives
       • Cloud servers
       • remove un-needed records (Archive)
       • possible for info to be stored for about 10 years
         • Finding this info takes time and can be expensive
   • Information Stored...
     • customer data
       • retailers with loyalty schemes hold large amounts of this data
     • details about..
       • voicemails
       • e-mails
       • internal memos
     • Kept in case its needed as evidence in a legal case
       • Backup copies are kept aswell
     • Drawbacks
       • storage problems
       • finding information from several years ago takes times
         • and can be expensive
         • therefore you need to make sure that you can search for the archived data
           • data is archived so less processing power is used when searching for data
             • school archives data of old students so they only have to search around 1200 students when searching for relevant data

3. Corporate strategy covering technology for ICT systems in large organisations

   • FUTURE PROOFING
     • Scaleable networks
     • Application software independent of operating system
     • data stored separate to database software
     • large amount of data storage
     • Higher processing power than is needed at the time
   • DEVELOPMENTS IN TECHNOLOGY
     • Need a flexible strategy that can be changed
     • Need to be able to move quickly to ensure competitive advantage
   • PROCUREMENT
     • Procedures
     • Ensuring value for money
       • researching suitable providers of hardware, software and services
       • Choosing companies/ individuals for providing hardware, software and services
     • Tenders for large contracts
       • asking for quotes from different companies to compare costs
         • quotes (advice)
       • using tenders is the best possible and legal way
   • TECHNOLOGY LIFE CYCLE
     • Research and development
     • The ascent phase
       • costs of the new system have been recovered
         • through
           • reduction in admin costs
           • improved efficiency
           • less wastage
       • savings start to rise above research and development costs
     • The maturity phase
     • decline phase
       • where ICT system starts to be out of date
         • costs of maintaing rise
           • more difficult to maintain
   • INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
     • Systems allow the production of management information
     • Information must be available to anyone needing it
   • PEOPLE CONSIDERATIONS
     • Re-organisation may be needed
       • new offices may be needed to be built
         • or work with legacy systems
           • Factors for new systems
             • cost
             • ease of use
     • Existing staff will need training in new technology
       • to increase their skills
     • New staff may be needed

4. STANDARDS AFFECTING STRATEGY CHOICES

   • allow computers and computer equipment to successfully work together
   • E.g. School or College will exchange data with the exam board they use
     • this saves time
       • because the data is in a form that both computer systems can understand
         • therefore the school and the exam board have to use the same standards so their systems can communicate