The first project resulted in an overview of the organization

 

The first project resulted in an overview of the organization, the current information technology (IT) planning strategy that is followed and implemented by that organization, and the key issues of the current IT planning strategy. The result of the organization and the key issues review should provide a good foundation for the next step in the project. The next step is to identify the business impact of each problem. Knowing the business impact of problems provides a sense of their relative severity or urgency.

For this assignment, you will continue to work on your IT Strategy Design Document by adding a section on the business impact of the problems with the Current IT Planning and Management Strategy. You will also provide a business impact summary of your chosen organization.

The project deliverables are as follows:

• Update the IT Planning Strategy Design Document title page with a new date and project name.
• Update your previously completed sections based on instructor feedback.
• For each problem identified in Week 1, write its business impact on the organization.

  Map these problems directly to business impacts to determine the precedence of individual problems.
  These problems should focus on what the business is facing now or will face in the future.

  Save Time On Research and Writing

  Hire a Pro to Write You a 100% Plagiarism-Free Paper.

  Get My Paper
• Provide business impact summary (1 page)

  Summarize the organization’s overall situation or predicament as accurately as possible by linking business impacts to problems.
  Start each sentence with the business impact, and be sure to link it to a specific cause (or causes).

• Provide at least 2 references to support your research paper.
• Be sure to update your table of contents before submission.

Running Head: INNOVATIONS AT INTERNATIONAL FOODS

1.1 THE COMPANY OVERVIEW

The International Foods Group (IFG) Tower was a Chicago landmark as well as part of the company’s logo, which appeared on the packages of almost every type of food one could imagine—breakfast cereals, soft drinks, frozen pizza, cheese, and snack foods, to name just a few. IFG was now the largest purveyor of food products the world had ever known. , IFG kept right on growing, gobbling up dozens of companies each year—some because IFG wanted to stomp on its competition and others because it wanted their good ideas.

1.2 Current IT Strategic Planning and Management

IFG has taken over Glow-Foods since the company has done well in using social networking, mashups, and multimedia to support its marketing strategy and has an impressive ability to reach the under thirty demographic with technology. IFG has traditionally marketed its products to women with children missing out on the youth. It has a functional Web site—a place where customers can find out about its products and where to buy them. More recently, it has added the products nutritional content, some recipes, and a place where customers can contact directly with questions, but it is unidirectional and pretty dry. Enough of what had been done in Glow-Foods succeeded that demand for the company’s products had skyrocketed. Young adults and teens had responded en masse to the opportunity to post pictures of themselves drinking their Green Tea Shakes in unusual places on the Glow-Foods Web site and to send a coupon for their favorite Glow-Foods product to a friend. Serialized company mini-dramas popped up on YouTube and viewers were asked to go online to help shape what happened to the characters—all of them using Glow-Foods products extensively. Contests, mass collaboration in package design, and a huge network of young part-time sales reps linked through Facebook all contributed to making the brand hip and exciting—and drove sales through the roof.

1.3 PROBLEMS CITED IN THE CURRENT IT PLANNING STRATEGY

The team has encountered some problems during the strategic planning. Access to instant messaging and Facebook require prior approval from Rick Visser’s group. They need to know why Josh’s team needs it. Ben demands that the team goes through him since he is the contact person and claims he should be present in all meetings. Sheema requested that the team should request their proposed work, with costs and benefits for the fiscal year beginning six months from now. The team is not sure how the plan will play out, it could be great and would need lots of resources to scale up or could bomb and fail.

2.0 BUSINESS IMPACT OF THE PROBLEMS

Since access to instant messaging and Facebook require prior approval from Rick Visser’s group, this could affect communication and information could fail to deliver on time. The information could also fail to reach the receivers incase Visser’s group fails to approve the information. Ben demands that the team goes through him since he is the contact person and claims he should be present in all meetings. Incase case Ben is engaged elsewhere and is not able to attend a meeting, it means that the meeting will be postponed and this is a waste of time and resources. Sheema requested that the team should request their proposed work, with costs and benefits for the fiscal year beginning six months from now. The team is not sure how the plan will play out, it could be great and would need lots of resources to scale up or could bomb and fail. For this reason a definite budget cannot be made.

3.0 TECHNOLOGY ROADMAP

International Foods Group (IFG) will connect directly with customers about new product development ideas through an interactive Web site with real-time response from internal staff. The company will then reach out to different communities and gain insights into their needs and interests, which in turn will guide the future marketing plans. These and other ideaswill be implemented on the ‘cloud,’ which will enable the team to scale up or down rapidly as it needs to while linking with company databases.

4.0 INFORMATION SECURITY STRATEGY

Successful accomplishment of the goals and objectives will result in realizing the vision and the transformation of the company’s operations, technologies, processes, and people. Program managers, users and supporting personnel will have confidence in the information needed to achieve their missions. Decision makers will share a seamless, enterprise-wide, and common view of information, networks, and systems, allowing them to jointly make decisions. The secure enterprise architecture will allow appropriate sharing of information and knowledge and enable multiple levels of information sharing across security environments.

Cyber security capabilities will be dynamic, sufficiently robust, and agile – reconfigurable on demand, available, and consistently controlled at all points of access, with reduced possibility for human and machine error. Cutting-edge protection, detection, and response technologies will be rapidly deployed across all systems and networks, outpacing adversaries’ efforts to exploit vulnerabilities.

Processes and governance principles will support mission accomplishment in a networked environment, will be continually improved, and will be sufficiently dynamic and agile to accommodate rapidly changing needs.

Cyber security personnel will consistently demonstrate the highest skill levels in managing and deploying the latest technologies and methods. The entire team workforce will recognize the importance of cyber security, understand their role in it, and will be constantly vigilant.

5.0 IT FUNCTIONS AND CAPABILITY STRATEGY.

Different models can help executives construct an IT strategy, most contain certain key elements including:

· A high-level overview of the IT department that covers its mission, core values, objectives and approaches to accomplishing its goals.

· Current budgets and fro spending forecasts a multiyear timeline.

· An outline of current and future IT projects and initiatives with timelines and milestones.

· A catalog of existing enterprise architecture; IT department capabilities and capacities; and future needs and requirements with details about infrastructure, staffing and other necessary resources.

· An analysis of IT’s strengths and weaknesses.

· A list of the internal and external forces (such as market and industry trends) that shape current technology requirements and innovations as well as the future forces expected to shape IT.

· A prediction of the potential opportunities and vulnerabilities that will necessitate technology responses to best position the organization for success.

6.0 REFFERENCES

Erica Olsen. (2006) Strategic Planning for Dummies. Teachers College Record,177 (4)

George Steiner (1979). Strategic Planning. The Free Press.

Rosa, M., & Soffer, P. (2013). Business Process Management Workshops. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg.