Strategic Information Systems Planning: Alignment of 'IS/IT' Planning and Business Planning

Abstract

The advances in information technology have affected the lives of most of the human beings in their day-to day lives. With the passage of time, the technology has evolved immensely and so have the opportunities. Information Technology is being used in the business activities for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the people and the business on the whole. The increasing demand of IS IT has made the management of the more and more complex and difficult. In order to manage the IS/IT based systems, it is important to have an appropriate strategy that defines the systems and provide means to manage the systems. Strategic information systems planning (SISP) is an effective way of developing and maintaining the IS/IT systems that support the business operations. This research examines the key aspect of SISP in the changing business scenario. The alignment of the IS/IT plans and the business plans is essential for improved business performance. The research employs a triangulation approach to identify key aspects of the study in New Zealand. The data sets included the questionnaire to the IT and business managers of the three companies and their views are compared with the literature and the available business documents for consistency and answering the research question. The questionnaires were sent to the respective IT and a business manager of the three companies and other data was collected from the company websites, and annual reports. There was similarity in terms of planning and implementation of the IS/IT and business processes and the use of ERP, SCM and CRM applications to support the business processes. The conclusion reveals that there is no formal planning process in the three companies and the IS/IT and business planning is done on an ad-hoc basis. There is a move towards the alignment of the plans. However, the companies are yet to use SISP to achieve the alignment of IS/IT plan and business plans.