How to define the it strategy of an organization and the key roles influencing the same?

Abstract

Most companies today are embracing technology to enhance their business and increase efficiency. In order to achieve this, a strong IT infrastructure and strategy is of paramount importance. IT investments are usually capital intensive and hence play an important role in defining the overall corporate strategy of the company. IT spends are quite difficult to justify and often tougher to measure. However, IT spends are necessary to increase efficiency and productivity of a firm. The factors affecting IT strategy of a company can decide the success or failure of its business processes. A proper understanding of vision and risks is critical while defining the IT strategy and also ensuring that it is in line with the overall strategy of the firm. This project is aimed at identifying strategies for deploying and maintaining IT infrastructure based on the industry and business needs of the firm. An analysis of the key components involved in defining the IT strategy of any company, followed by an analysis of our focal firms (An FMCG company Hindustan Unilever Limited, an E-retail company Flipkart, and a software services company Sasken Communications) IT strategy has been captured as part of this report. Our key analysis points are ? Identifying the key considerations before defining a company s IT strategy ? Identifying the key components of an IT infrastructure ? Understanding Governance models in IT units ? Understanding change in IT strategies.