Untitled 2
Untitled 2
Untitled 2
IT impact on strategy defines the role that IT plays in determining product, market, business
network, and boundary positioning. It seeks to explain the mechanisms though which IT drives
differentiation, sustainable advantage, and the development of proprietary assets. It also identifies the
When IT was first introduced for commercial use, the primary target was to automate routine, information
intensive back-office transaction such as payroll processing and accounting. The primary goal was to
increase efficiency and productivity. Business quickly learned to apply these same benefits to front-office
activities that involved transactions with suppliers, distributors, customers, and other value chain
participants. But the impact of IT increased dramatically when businesses learned to use it, not just to
Many moderns companies relies in their IT department to deliver their services and products, in fact it
could be the IT is the most important competitive advantage for these companies. For example, Amazon
can not operate one second without their IT department, the high growth sales at Amazon comes from the
creative ideas that been developed in the IT department such as recommendation from previous browsed
Now with the advance of technologies and the increase of customers' preferences toward the use of internet
communications increased the dependency in IT department. The view of making business has been
changed besides strategies, planning, and the way they compete in their industries.
However, Quicken is no different than Amazon they heavily rely on the IT department to deliver the best
services available. Beside Quicken loans services and the tremendous effort from the IT department to
deliver number one loan service in the United States online, Quicken have a huge collections of personal
finance management software designed and developed in the IT department. The department is
responsible to support the customers with all the software and monitor the efficiency of the debugging
process.
• Introduction
Often referred to as e-commerce is the act of buying or selling products or services over the internet or
other electronic networks. Electronic commerce is also about reaching the global market, improving
customer services and fostering closer customer relationship.Before 1995 commercial enterprise on the
internet was strictly prohibited, mainly because there is no security protocols to transfer sensitive
transactions through the web and it was for the interest of the customers after all. After that the e-business
start booming where most of the American companies offer an electronic method to approach their
In all organizations the IT department is the one responsible for establishing, maintaining, and analyzing
data of the electronic commerce in the company. Competitions between businesses shifted from traditional
The electronic commerce created more opportunities for businesses and customers, where it provides
multiple benefits to the consumers in form of availability of goods at lower cost, wider choice and saves
time. For businesses, the electronic commerce generate more revenue from the electronic sales and
advertisements.
• what are we talking about and why is it important; examples are welcome (e.g., what is
outsourcing in genera, what are the general risks and capabilities, opportunities of outsourcing,
etc.. The analysis at this session should be generic and not related specifically to the analyzed
organization.
• A comprehensive analysis, discussion, and evaluation of the topic (what should the board know
about this issue, what is the status of the company regarding the topic, and evaluation of the
status);
• Conclusions and recommendations (what should the company do, including justification by
presenting the benefits for the company);
Also, Quicken are well known for there personal finance services that comes in different packages. We
think that their market share will increase in this area if they offer these services through multiple
mobile operating system such as Apple OSX or Google Android as an application, by that they will
increase there customer's satisfaction. For example, Quicken provide a service called Quizzle, this
service can manage family or individual expenses and budget, credit score and report, and other useful
financial tools. The users of the this service can plan and set a budget and then add there expenses in
daily basis, it is only available in personal computer. If Quicken could implement this software in
3. Systems integration
• Introduction
In information technology, systems integration is the process of linking together different computing
systems and software applications physically or functionally, to act as a coordinated whole. System
integration is also about adding value to the system, capabilities that are possible because of
Quicken have a lot of suppliers and to communicate with each one individually will cost the company a
lot of effort and manpower to maintain the communication systems between the suppliers. However, to
minimize the cost Quicken come up with a standard method of communication between the company
and other suppliers. For example, Quicken use The Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance
Organization (MISMO) this software is a standard platform. The MISMO standards are grounded in an
open process to develop, promote and maintain voluntary electronic commerce procedures and
standards that allow mortgage lenders, investors in real estate and mortgages, services, industry
vendors, borrowers and other parties to exchange real estate finance-related information and
eMortgages more securely, efficiently and economically. MISMO promotes data consistency among
transaction participants, reduces processing costs, increases transparency, and boosts investor
confidence in mortgages and real estate as asset classes while permitting cost savings to be passed on to
borrowers and other customers. MISMO constructs a standard approach using XML files format
whereby two business-related firms can streamline shared data contained in forms or reports. One of
the best features of this software is the ability of transferring data without interfering with the
organization’s software. In other word, MISMO does not dictate what kind of software to use or even
the appearance of loan-documentation forms. Rather, it dictates how to format data sent to another
party. This allows all parties to develop, run and maintain their own platforms while having uniform
efficiency.
4. IT and the organization (How well the IT department structure, location in the organizational
hierarchy, strategy, and priorities suit the organizational structure, culture, and strategy).
We could add a chart here showing the IT location in the organization.
5. Outsourcing
• Introduction
Outsourcing is the process of involving an external provider or third-party in part of the organization’s
activities. In IT outsourcing is common for some organizations, the main reason is to reduce cost. Most
view the action of outsourcing as simply removing unproductive or underperforming assets from the
balance sheet, while also lowering the expenses of operating and maintaining those assets.
There are some advantages that could come from outsourcing the IT. For example, by outsourcing, an
organization may have access to professional trained people, processes and advance technologies that it
might not otherwise financially obtained. Also, by outsourcing the IT activities to a specialist management
In general, outsourcing is more suitable for small businesses where it is usually not cost-effective to
employ an in-house IT specialist. However, many researchers found that outsourcing is not the ideal way to
reach the organization’s goals in the long term. Many problems of outsourcing may arise in the future.
Loss of managerial control, hidden costs, threat to security and confidentiality, quality problems, and
culture misunderstanding are all a disadvantages of outsourcing. In other word, without the IT in-house
there will be an extreme case of difficulty between the IT provider and the company in general. In order for
the IT department to deliver the best result they have to be presented in the company floor to see the actual
process of the business from there they can generate and deliver the most officiant jobs to fit the
organization environment.
A study conducted by Deloitte Consulting found that 25 percent brought outsourced IT activities back in-
house after finding that the very act of outsourcing has enabled them to identify ways to lower the cost and
improve the performance by doing the activity in-house. Another 44 percent found that outsourcing did not
result in any cost savings, and over half found hidden costs that were not accounted for in the initial
contract.