Increasing the success of the global information technology strategic planning process

Abstract

The paper examines the issues of concern in the development of strategic information technology plans for global organisations. It is widely acknowledged that alignment of the business and technology plans is a critical issue for managers around the world and this situation is only exacerbated for global organisations by the speed of technological change and the difficulties inherent with managing disparate geographical locations. From the literature, adherence to the typical strategic business planning horizon of 3-5 years does not appear to be very successful in aiding the alignment of the strategic business and information technology (IT) plans in global organisations. Roche and others state that this is due to the rapid changes and advancements which are being made in the IT arena (P. Feldman, 1991; E.M. Roche, 1992; S.L. Jarvenpaa and B. Ives, 1992), and that long term IT plans cannot adjust quickly enough to take advantage of these advancements. Issues addressed are aimed at enabling the strategic plan to better use IT as a competitive leverage tool by reducing the global information technology strategic planning horizon. The paper also considers other improvements including the introduction of a 'partnership approach' to the planning process and identifying how the organisation's 'technical heritage' can impact the GIT strategic planning process.