IT Infrastructure for Strategic Agility
Name
4235-02.pdf
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340.88 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
5f3c89ed7a70da5befd63f07fe28b448
Author(s)
Weill, Peter
Subramani, Mani
Broadbent, Marianne
Date Issued
February 24, 2003
Series/Report no.
MIT Sloan School of Management Working Paper;4235-02
Abstract
nvesting in IT infrastructure is one of the most challenging tasks facing senior
managers who often feel ill equipped to make these decisions. Investing in the right
infrastructure at the right time enables rapid implementation of future electronically
based business initiatives and cost reduction of current business processes. This paper
presents a framework for senior executives to view IT infrastructure in business terms
and to lead in making investment decisions. By studying 180 electronically based
business initiatives in 89 top performing enterprises we identified the specific
infrastructure capabilities needed for different types of business initiatives and how this
capability is provided as an integrated IT infrastructure. An integrated IT infrastructure
has ten clusters of IT infrastructure services fine tuned to the enterprise's set of
electronically based business initiatives. Using the frameworks for describing IT based
business initiatives, executives can identify the future family of initiatives (i.e., their
desired strategic agility) the enterprise desires to lead their industry with. This is a
process of strategic choice and balancing investing in longer-term agility with
shorter-term cost minimization. Successful enterprises get this infrastructure balance
right more often than not because they make regular, systematic modular and targeted
investments while having a clear picture of their own overall infrastructure capability
and how each incremental investment adds value. To lead on multiple dimensions in
strategic agility required an integrated infrastructure with high capabilities in all
infrastructure clusters and a deliberate approach to data management to manage
conflicts. The paper concludes with a set of suggested steps to link an enterprise's
desired strategic agility with the above average infrastructure capability needed
Subjects
IT
Infrastructure
IT Infrastructure
Strategy
Agility
Strategic Agility
Persistent DSpace Link
