Transcript Housekeeping

Chapter 1
Information Systems and the
Role of General and
Functional Managers
Why every modern manager must be proficient with
Information Systems
© Gabriele Piccoli
Course Roadmap
• Part I: Foundations
– Chapter 1: Introduction
– Chapter 2: Information Systems Defined
– Chapter 3: Organizational Information Systems and
Their Impact
• Part II: Competing in the Internet Age
• Part III: The Strategic use of Information Systems
• Part IV: Getting IT Done
© Gabriele Piccoli
Learning Objectives
1. To define the terms general manager, functional manager, and end
user. You will also learn to articulate the difference between these
concepts.
2. To define the role of the modern chief information officer (CIO).
3. To identify organizational and information technology trends that
have led to the current popularity of IT-based information systems.
4. To identify why it is important for general and functional managers to
be involved in information systems decisions.
5. To identify, and avoid, the risks that arise when general and
functional managers decide to abdicate their right (and duty) to
make important information systems decisions.
© Gabriele Piccoli
Introduction
• It is very hard to escape the hype and
publicity surrounding information technology
(IT) and its business applications
• A key driving force has been the affordability
and accessibility of IT and business
applications
• This has resulted in IT and business
applications becoming critical investments for
business operations
© Gabriele Piccoli
Basic Manager Definitions
• Manager: A trained, knowledgeable
worker who is in charge of a team and
often holds a master’s degree in
management or business administration
• General Manager: Manager in charge of
an entire organization or business unit
• Functional Manager: Manager in charge of
a functional area or team
© Gabriele Piccoli
The Importance of IS
“All the value of this company is in its
people. If you burned down all our plants,
and we just kept our people and our
information files, we should soon be as
strong as ever.” ~Thomas Watson Jr.
© Gabriele Piccoli
What This Means For You
• Selecting, designing, and managing IT and
building IS: Not a job for the “IT guy”
• Modern general and functional managers
are responsible for working in partnership
with IT professionals.
© Gabriele Piccoli
Critical Lessons
• Managers have to make educated
decisions about the use of IT
• Organizations use new IT to serve
growing/changing business needs
• Savvy managers partner with IT pros to
ensure the success of information systems
• Managers may or may not be end-users of
the new systems they help to create
© Gabriele Piccoli
What is an End User?
• End User: Individuals who have direct contact with
software applications.
• Anyone who uses a software program is an end-user
– Students who use office productivity tools to write papers
– Customers who use online systems to order goods &
services
– Suppliers who use business systems to deliver goods &
services
– Managers & employees who use simple office productivity
programs (MS Office) or advanced programs
(organizational business systems) for their day-to-day
activities
© Gabriele Piccoli
The End User
• Comes into direct contact with the technology: Software
and hardware
• Uses the technology to complete their day-to-day work
and improve their own productivity
• General and Functional Managers are often also endusers, but their critical skills are different
• General and Functional Managers must:
– Understand the role that IT plays in an information system
– Be able to identify opportunities to use IT to their organization’s
advantage
– Plan for the effective use of IS resources
– Manage the design, development, selection, and implementation
of organizational information systems
© Gabriele Piccoli
Organizational Priorities
Top 10 Business Priorities
Top 10 Technology Priorities
Business process improvement
Virtualization
Reducing enterprise costs
Cloud computing
Increasing the use of information/analytics
Web 2.0
Improving enterprise workforce effectiveness
Networking, voice and data communications
Attracting and retaining new customers
Business Intelligence
Managing change initiatives
Mobile technologies
Creating new products or services (innovation)
Data/document management and storage
Targeting customers and markets more effectively Service-oriented applications and architecture
Consolidating business operations
Security technologies
Expanding current customer relationships
IT management
Adapted from Gartner EXP (January 2010)
© Gabriele Piccoli
Next Wave of CIOs
• Increasing prevalence of IT → necessary
understanding of how to use resources
• Broad view of operations, business
processes, inter-organizational coordination
challenges, and opportunities
• Broad understanding of how the firm is
positioned to execute strategies
• No longer seen as the endpoint of a career
but as a stepping stone to other executive
positions (CEO, president, etc.)
© Gabriele Piccoli
Key CIO Skills
• Perpetually develop the IT Team/Organization
• Effectively manage change while in pursuit of:
–
–
–
–
Marketplace Innovation
Process Improvement
Maximum Agility
Leverage of Legacy Systems
• Achieve 100% Customer Satisfaction
• Consistently improve business performance
© Gabriele Piccoli
What’s an Information System?
An organizational system that enables the
processing and management of an
organization’s information
© Gabriele Piccoli
Key IT Trends
• IT enables new strategy, initiatives and
effective management
• Processing power, storage capacity and
battery life continues to increase rapidly
• IT costs continue to decline rapidly
• IT continues to improve in user
friendliness, thus becoming accessible to
more and more people
© Gabriele Piccoli
Key IT Trends
• Data storage cost
continues to decline
• More and more devices
are networked
• Intelligent devices are
now mainstream
Used with permission from David
Becker/ Getty Images, Inc.
© Gabriele Piccoli
Implications of IT Trends
Computing power
(computation and
storage) increases.
Cost of computing
power declines
Cost of data
transmission
declines
Computers
become
interconnected
Computers
become
easier to use
Digitization and
miniaturization increase
Interconnected computing devices
become more pervasive and embedded
in more aspects of our lives
© Gabriele Piccoli
Network
bandwidth
increases
Effects of Managerial Significance
• Huge increases in capital expenditures
related to IT has resulted in:
– Advances in communication systems
• Affordable high-speed Internet access
• Reliance on instant messaging tools
– Access to entertainment options
• Access to games & movies online
– Increased productivity
– Management relying on newer intelligence
tools to improve decision making capability
© Gabriele Piccoli
Hiring the “Right” IT Person
• Managers’ skills are complementary to
those of IT professionals
• Communication and a good relationship
are critical to capitalizing on those skills
• Hiring “good” IT professionals and letting
them worry about all the IT stuff does not
work
© Gabriele Piccoli
The Recap
• Chief information officers (CIOs) are increasingly being selected
from the functional and managerial ranks rather than from the
technology ranks.
• This job is no longer looked at as a dead-end. CIOs move on to
CEO or President positions
• The enduring effects of Moore’s law have led to
– increasingly powerful yet cheaper computing
– declining costs of computer memory
– dramatic improvement in the ease and breadth of use of digital devices
• Network connectivity and storage capacity, improved battery life for
portable devices, and the proliferation of intelligent devices have
dramatically changed the business and social landscape
© Gabriele Piccoli
The Recap
• Managers can no longer abdicate their right, and
duty, to be involved in information systems and IT
decisions
• Managers must act in partnership with the firm’s
information systems and technology professionals
• The skilled manager is one who can:
– use information technologies to the firm’s advantage
– properly plan & manage the firm’s information
systems resources
– manage, design, develop, select, and implement
information systems
© Gabriele Piccoli
What We Learned
1. To define the terms general manager, functional manager, and end
user. You also learned to articulate the difference between these
concepts.
2. To define the role of the modern chief information officer (CIO).
3. To identify organizational and information technology trends that
have led to the current popularity of IT-based information systems.
4. To identify why it is important for general and functional managers to
be involved in information systems decisions.
5. To avoid the risks of abdicating your right (and duty) to make
important information systems decisions.
© Gabriele Piccoli