Key IT issues for executives: an Indian perspective

Abstract

As the number of organizations relying on Information technology for running their businesses has increased manifold over the recent years, managing IT investments and ensuring high returns from them has become a crucial responsibility of the CIO and other top executives of the organization. Despite paying close attention to the IT needs and careful scrutiny of every IT investment Rupee spent, many of the firms are unable to generate superior returns. A study conducted by The Society for Information Management in United States in 2003, to understand the key issues that affect the effective realization of returns from IT investments revealed that the key issues were: aligning IT strategy with business strategies, goals, and needs; measuring the value of IT investments and the performance gains; integrating heterogeneous mix of IT infrastructure into a standardized architecture that work together to support business. The criticality of these issues varied according to nature of the industry and also among the decision makers (top or mid level executives). This study became so popular that it has become an annual feature in the MIS Quarterly magazine1 and is of great interest to top level executives responsible for key IT investment decisions in their respective firms. With the growing investments in IT in the Indian industry, there is a strong need for a similar study in the Indian business context. Most contemporary research conducted by several technology magazines and publications focus mainly on the new technological developments while focusing little on the question of aligning business and IT strategy. They also do not focus on industry-specific needs on IT investments. This gap instilled a desire in us to conduct a contemporary concerns study on strategic IT issues faced by Indian executives.