Effectiveness Of The Partnership Between IT And The Business At Hefty Hardware

The purpose of this article is to illuminate the need for any organization to have its IT strategy and business strategy properly aligned. While many organizations view IT and business alignment as an event – it is actually an on-going process, or continuous journey. Therefore, the main problem is that many organizations of today still hold these two principles (business mission & IT strategy) as two separate entities. However, in the Information Age – collaboration is key to capturing and retaining market penetration. To not have alignment with the IT and business strategy together is not a matter of want it is a matter of survival. This report will expand upon the need for business and IT strategic alignment as well as examine what happens in lack of a comprehensive plan. This will be done by examining the Vermont Teddy Bear company prior to and after the arrival of Bob Stetzel, the Vice President of Information Technology. This document will view it findings and make recommendations on the immediate and future operations of the company.

Question #2: Would your colleagues on the executive committee agree with your selection and prioritization? The above priorities should be well received because they solve or improve many of the frustrating employees around the company. This answer will look at each division (upper management, sales & marketing, order fulfillment and distribution, and ITS) and see why the four IT priorities should be well received by the executive committee. The KL upper management is on record stating that the company has IT challenges “…around coordinating the various, and at times conflicting, business priorities across the enterprise. We sure could use better IT tools for this as well as ready access to timely performance data.”, CEO Joseph Campbell. In addition, COO Jens McCreary stated that the company needs to improve global supply-chain management and leverage the expertise to outpace out competitors and cut our operating costs…” Considering these quotes it’s safe to assume that the CEO and COO should be accepting of these four IT priorities because will want to see IT provide better services in order to reach their goals. The products, manufacturing and distribution divisions of the company want to see SAP standardized and compatible across the company in order to

Time Management is essential because one must manage their time and employees time while meeting deadlines.

2. What is the business reason(s) for completing this project? How are they compelling for the improvement team and the management team? How are they tied to strategy?

b. What will the new system accomplish? What functions will it perform? Which organization goals will it support?

McKeen, James D; Smith, Heather (2012). IT strategy: Issues and practices (2nd ed.). Boston: Prentice Hall. Kindle Edition.

Strategy- Decide on an IT strategy that will be followed but allows some flexibility as technology and needs change. Set up goals and define objectives for the IT department that align with overall company objectives. Review these objectives

The support of non IT people is essential to achieving business alignment or it at least make the conversation that much easier. John stated ‘that it was important to have someone who speaks both languages’ when aligning business and IS/IT strategy so that nothing is missed and everyone is on the same page. Both Tim and Subianto took this further by explaining that it was non-IT people who use the systems at the end of the day so there needs to be a constant back and forth to achieve alignment.

5. Evaluate the steps that were taken in the ERP activities. Which were done well and which could be improved?

How effective is the collaboration between business and IT at Hefty Hardware? Determine the deficiency of both business and IT.

I would apply differentiated market segmentation approach because my various businesses are focused on many different selling points and multiple demographic markets. Meaning you would need to develop the right marketing mix.

is the attempt of this paper to explain outsourcing , it's pro's and con's and

Porter’s Five Forces model could be used to generate IT strategies. Provide and explain ten (10) strategies as examples. (two (2) strategies for each of the five forces)

This paper will discuss the processes and pitfalls faced by Information Technology managers in today’s world of business. Today’s IT managers need not only be savvy about existing equipment and upcoming technology; but must also understand the budget issues they face and how to properly address them. The IT manager is asked to look into a crystal ball and predict what products will be beneficial and which requirements can be cut from the budget. They must be able to differentiate between the new shiny fad and products that will be a true asset to the company’s visions and goals. An IT budget can no longer be a static number on the company’s finance sheet; it must be a clear vision of the department’s future spending while falling in line with the goals and expectations of the company.

Frenzel (2004) claimed that to be successful, a firm’s IT management team must take action on the following critical areas: business management issues; strategic and competitive issues; planning and implementation concerns; and operational items. If for any reason, the organisation experiences difficulties in the above areas, the manager will need to set goals and objectives to overcome and prevent these issues.