Information Technology: Transforming the Core Business

Dr. Mohammed Al Muhtadi

Technological revolution has likely changed how businesses are doing its business. Most particularly, the juxtaposition of information technology and institution’s core business has likely provided significant benefits and advantages to survive the intensifying completion amongst rivals in the industries.  “Information technology indeed changed the business for the better (Baum, 2013).” It is common conception in businesses and firms that utilization of information technology likely change the way they do their business, and that investing in information technology balance the changes in different facets of the organization.  The alignment of capabilities of information technology with the organizational structure as well as with the changing business needs likely translates to better business operation.

Leveraging the capabilities of information technology to achieve business success is basically critical facet in surviving today’s business environment. The most important thing to consider is that companies should be more focused on the business needs and performance outcomes and less on what technology to integrate.  Therefore, it implies that the role of information technology throughout the organizational transformation should place great emphasis on how it delivers the expected business results or performance.

There are a lot of companies that highly focus and give utmost attention on the design of the IT architecture which likely include applications, information and technology. This could be considered as a pitfall for a successful business transformation with information technology. Most organizations are successful in their respective businesses mainly because they effectively and properly aligned their IT strategies and systems with the goals of the business.  This may seem obvious, but historically it has been far from reality. As recently as a decade ago, information systems carried with it a mystique that was rarely challenged by business unit managers. Often, organizations’ IT departments grew and evolved based on technological considerations alone. That has changed in today’s business world. More insightful managers are learning how important it is to align technology strategies with business goals.

These trends likely describe the transformation paradigm, from technology centric architecture to business centric architecture. Instead of focusing on technology standards, portfolios, technical architecture patters, application and information architectures and enterprise architecture governance, business centric architecture simply outlines a focus on business strategies, business capabilities, operating models, value chains, applications and information from a business process perspective and business investment governance.

As the company moves into an organizational transformation, governance and leadership are critical facets for a smooth transition. Top management should take the leadership responsibilities in order to make effective decisions when it comes to the organization’s IT ventures and priorities. Good governance of the top management would likely allow the entire organization workforce to completely understand and grasp how information systems work in achieving the earlier defined business outcomes and performance .

A successful transition or transformation within the organization is highly influenced as to how the entire company is willing or motivated to adapt to technological changes. Setting out the goals and objectives would aid in the easier transformation, given the fact that these goals and objectives are key inputs for establishing new business processes and strategies. If company failed create these new business processes and strategies, it would likely result to negative consequences that the company should are not prepared for.

For decision-makers, one should ponder on how innovation could be facilitated in the entire organization and how information technology could be integrated into the institutional strategic plan.  It is critical to ask this question, given the fact that inclusion of IT capabilities in strategically mapping the company’s transformation is of great importance for achieving short-term and long-term goals.  Another thought to reflect upon is whether or not the company or the organization has successfully defined the business outcomes and performance objectives as to which IT could be integrated.  To reiterate, success is achieved through effective alignment of their IT strategies and systems with the goals of the business.

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