A Study on the “Flexibility” of Information Systems (Part 3): MIS Flexibility Planning Scheme for IT/Business Strategy Alignment

Abstract

IT/business strategy alignment is still a crucial issue for managers worldwide; how to deal with environmental change has been considered to be the key challenge to strategy alignment. Uncertain and dynamically changing environments require organizations to maintain a high level of alignment with a high risk of IT investment. To maintain this alignment, organizations must learn how to make their management information systems (MISs) sufficiently flexible; therefore, previous studies suggest the importance of MIS flexibility. Nevertheless, there are few studies that explore the practical method of MIS flexibility planning for IT/business strategy alignment. Therefore, Part 1 of this series discusses the meaning of MIS flexibility for this alignment, while Part 2 proposes a scheme to make MISs sufficiently flexible.The proposed concept of the penalty of change (POC), as a function of cost and time, could bridge the gap between IT and business strategies in practice. This paper presents a scheme for the strategic planning of MIS flexibility by overhauling the IT infrastructure via future-oriented POC analysis. Using this procedure and monitoring the degree of MIS flexibility and alignment in the long term would reduce risks and could transform the corporate MIS into a useful tool to address environmental changes.

The Impact of Business Intelligence on Organization Agility The Mediating Role of Absorptive Capacity “An Empirical Study on Joint Venture Banks in Alexandria”

“…Generating flexibility within businesses needs the ability to change rapidly and with relative ease to create, preserve, or strengthen a competitive advantage (Erol, Sauser and Boardman, 2009). The causes of IS flexibility are legacy tool and application integration, business process rules and regulations, and growth (Furukawa et al, 2014). Applying an information system that is compatible with legacy tools and applications aims to reduce costs and complexity.…”

“…Applying an information system that is compatible with legacy tools and applications aims to reduce costs and complexity. When business rules, policies, and regulations are rigid, IS become less flexible, whereas with fewer limitations, IS flexibility rises (Furukawa et al, 2014). For the purpose of this study, the researcher considered flexibility as an organizational BI capability because of its direct association with business rules, policies, and regulations.…”

Data Information System Strategies in Business Intelligence

“…alignment is explained as the capability to showcase positive connections between data systems and the acknowledged fiscal measures of BP. One of the widely utilized alignment models is the Strategic Data System Alignment [9]. This is considered as a multidimensional framework, as shown in Fig 3 Fundamentally, the majority of the frameworks of alignment are centred on the business structures and their fundamental objectives.…”