Business Seminar Spring 19/20

REPORT 7: IT ASSIGNEMENT

This week’s lecture was about IT Management and Governance. To understand better
the topic, we analyzed the relevance of IT in company’s strategy, we decomposed the IT function
and we covered good and bad practices in designing an IT strategic plan.

In a company, the major role of IT is to answer to different business demands, using the
assets in its power. These demands can be grouped in 3 points. Firstly, the IT department of a
company needs to make sure that everything is running as it is supposed to be, with no
obstructions. Secondly, it needs to perform at the lowest cost possible, meaning that it needs to
operate in the most efficient way Thirdly, it needs to provide elements of advantage in
comparison to its competitors. To satisfy the demands the IT department uses the assets it
controls, such as: Infrastructure – Hardware and Systems, Strategy, Projects, Software and
People.

Even though this is its major role of, IT it is also responsible for providing new
opportunities for the companies to create value. When considering consumers, we can state
that, with the advances in technology, companies were able to create: multi-channel journeys
(ex: Zara), a more close contact with their clients through mobile and social media (ex: Super
Bock) and micro-segmentation (ex: Netflix). Technology innovated some aspects of products as
well. Moreover, with its advances, it made possible the creation of new products (ex: GIRA), it
also turned the operations and logistics of the markets more efficient, since it provide a faster
go-to market, and, finally, it came up with important data for analyzes of the products.
Regarding the Digital Ops and Platforms, we can also say that there were some significant
progresses, namely with external surveillance, process digitalization, evolution of legacy and
employee collaboration. Finally, IT also created some disruption. In other words, with the
easiness of access to data, there had to be some improvements regarding cyber-security and
with enabled the creation of many start-ups, which created more competition. The creation of
value, by the IT come with the improvement in its own performance and with the possibility of
enabling the business in its evolution. However, as it is very complex, IT is difficult to manage. In
other words, there is a constant budget pressure with no room for changes, there is a focus on
low risk most of the times it is not aligned with the corporate strategy and, finally, it is seen as a
support function to growth.

Moreover, so that it complies with its duty, IT needs to cover 3 different dimensions: IT
Tech Platforms, Organization and Governance and IT Management. The first domain
incorporates the IT architecture – which translates strategy into technology using “domains”
such as the common language between business and IT; and it also incorporates IT
Infrastructure. The second dimension includes the IT organization- that has function such as
Business Interface, Planning and Controlling and Architecture; and the IT governance. The third
dimension considers the actual performance of the IT department.

Concluding, there are some key principles related to a good IT Strategic plan. It needs to
create transparency, to incorporate technology trends, to account for starting points, to balance
existing and emerging needs and to make a thoughtful orchestration. For the designing part
there was developed a 4 steps method. Firstly, there is a need to systemize the business and IT
requirements. Secondly, it needs to gather IT capabilities and pain-points across all dimensions.
Thirdly, it must define and detail the target IT model evaluating different evolution options.
Fourthly, is needs to define the implementation roadmap and changes in organization and ad
governance.

Eduardo José de Azevedo Teixeira, nº 39401