PIRATES OF SILICON VALLEY

1. What four factors must be in place for IT strategy development to be successful? Using a search engine (such as Google or Bing), locate a company that has a successful IT strategy and explain how these four factors contributed to the company- success.
2. Why is it necessary to strengthen the relationship between business strategy and IT strategy? Give three examples of organizations that are successful because of such a strong relationship.
3. Several new, innovative presentation software solutions have been released that can help an organization- marketing department increase the quality of its marketing materials. However, the CEO of the organization has never put much stock in new technology and feels that the software the organization is currently using is sufficient and sees no reason to change. Use the “peeling the onion” analogy as well as the following questions to demonstrate the value of these new software solutions to the organization.
(What value will be delivered?
Where will value be delivered?
Who will deliver value?
When will value be delivered?
How will value be delivered?

4. As the IT manager, you have been tasked with convincing your company- CEO that the time has come to purchase a new operating system and the latest office tools for the company- computers. Create a report for the CEO that outlines the value of this software purchase for the company. Also, develop a strategic plan to put this new software into place and discuss how you would implement your strategic plan.

5. Think about the organization (we will use finance, such as Citigroup) and develop a framework for the implementation of IM. Be sure to name each of the stages involved and how they would apply to a financial organization.

6. What is a technology roadmap? How could a technology roadmap benefit a financial organization?

7. Discuss how IT facilitates the budgeting process. What is the role of IT in the audit process?
8. Determine and describe the steps involved in putting together the IT budget for a financial organization. Which of the five IT budgeting practices (below) do you feel would work best for a financial organization? Why?
a. Appoint an IT finance specialist.
b. Use budgeting tools and methodologies.
c. Separate operations from innovation.
d. Adopt enterprise funding models.
e. Adopt rolling budget cycles.

9. Discuss key concepts involved in IT budgeting as they relate to a financial organization. How important is an IT budget to a financial organization?

10. Explain in terms of a financial organization, or any other organizations, the three conditions necessary for strategic IT experimentation (motivation, support, and direction).
11. Explain the characteristics of collaboration within an organization. Explain the four components that must be in place to ensure successful collaboration in terms of that organization (work done jointly with others).

12. Discuss resource allocation to execute IT experimentation and development plans.
13. Discuss some of the potential applications of collaborative technologies in the service sector and manufacturing sector.
14. How can an organization leverage IT to enable a step change in what the business is able to accomplish for its customers?
15. Is there a positive link between managerial and technical IT capabilities and process agility? Explain the answer. To what extent does environmental dynamism positively moderate the link between each of these IT capabilities and business process agility?
16. How does the traditional role of a CIO differ from the IT strategic role of a CIO? What is the focus of the strategic CIO? Why is the role of strategic CIO emerging?
17. Discuss what could be the most important qualities an IT leader should possess. How would you create a leadership development program that envelopes these qualities?
18. Why has the IT leadership role in organizations become so important? What are some of the IT service trade-off decisions that IT leaders face today? Why is it important for IT staff to behave as leaders?
19. Discuss the IT-based risks that an organization faces. How could the risks be managed in an effective, holistic manner? Explain the answer. Create a risk management framework for a specific type of organization and discuss how the framework would be use to improve the organization- risk management capabilities.
20. What are some ways that you could help link your organization- business metrics to your IT department? Which approach to establishing a business measurement program in IT would you use in your organization? Explain the choice.