Strategic Management of Information Systems Essay - 1

Strategic Management of Information Systems - Essay Example The Information Systems (IS) can be considered as an example of such sector. In fact, it seems that the interaction between IS strategy and business strategy is quite close. This means that the success of business strategy is highly depended on the effectiveness of IS strategy and vice versa. On the other hand, the intervention of IS strategy on business strategy is not standardized, as of its level; rather differences can be identified across businesses in different industries. The relationship between the IS strategy and the business strategy is explored in this paper by referring to a particular organization. The firm operates in the financial services industry; it is implied that the dependency of the firm on IS systems is strong. During the last 3 years the firm has managed to achieve a rapid growth, a fact that has been related to the effectiveness of its IS. However, failures, at operational level, have not been avoided, a problem that could affect the business performance in the long term. The presentation and analysis of the firm’s IS strategy and business strategy could help to realize the role of these strategies in the achievement of competitive advantage and the criteria that a successful investment on IS systems should meet. At the next level, recommendations are made for developing a risk management strategy so that the chances for severe organizational failures in the future are minimized. Within each organization IS can have a different role. For example, there are IS systems that are developed for addressing specific business problems (Oz 2008). There are also IS systems that are introduced only for ‘creating opportunities’ (Oz 2008, p.42). These opportunities aim to help an organization to increase its competitiveness in its industry, either at local or international level (Oz 2008). The above IS systems are also known as ‘strategic information systems, SIS’ (Oz 2008, p.42). These IS systems are of critical importance for business