The Benefits of Strategic Information Systems Coursework

The Benefits of Strategic Information Systems - Coursework Example Many business organizations exist which have acquired information systems but are unable to deploy these systems in a strategic manner in order to achieve a competitive advantage in their areas of operation, these failures often result from a misalignment of the strategic objectives of the company’s information systems with the strategic objectives of the business as a whole (Fortune & Peters, 2005) (Heeks, 2002). There are a number of possible reasons for such a misalignment some of the commonly cited reasons for such a misalignment include differing personalities and outlooks of the IT people and the business managers, separate budgets for IT departments which are unrelated to the budgets for the other departments and lack of oversight and effective management of the IT departments and an absence of accountability for business results (Heeks, 2002). These problems are often caused by a misplaced belief in the power of technology to help an organization in achieving its strategic aims, in reality; the mere presence of high tech equipment is of no use until it is utilized in a proper manner. According to a recent study on the link between information technology and productivity, advancements in information technology were not the primary cause of the improvements in technology which have occurred since the mid 1990’s rather it was the changes in business processes brought on by the use of information technology that enabled these gains in productivity (Ward & Peppard, 2002).In order to have an effective information system, managers need to make clear that the computational technology is not important in itself, it is rather a tool for realizing the strategic business aims of the company (Ward & Peppard, 2002).