Importance of Enterprise Informatization Planning

Author: Reproduced from weekly computer News (Original Author: Li Dong, professor at Guanghua School of Management, Peking University)

Monday, October 25 2004 pm

From Last year, an article in Harvard Business comments, "when the strategic advantage of it has become a thing of the past", has aroused widespread attention. This article points out that when it becomes the basic infrastructure of an enterprise, it is becoming a popular product like railways and electricity. At this time, the advantages of enterprises based on it will be lost. This article argues: "As the popularization of Information Technology continues, the punishment of extravagance and waste will only increase. It is more and more difficult to gain a competitive advantage through investment in information technology, but it is much easier to lead to a cost disadvantage ". Indeed, after enterprises and their competitors have already introduced information systems, the power comparison between the two sides has returned to the Balance Point. However, the two sides will certainly start a new round of competition. It is like when both sides in a football match are, the mood of either side will not be more relaxed than, but more tense. Unlike football matches, informatization is a competition without time restrictions. The problem enterprises face is not how to compete for the rest of the time, but how to continue to maintain a competitive advantage in the future. Starting from this basic point of view, we will re-examine the current information situation and business environment of enterprises, make a good job of Enterprise Informatization Planning, and think about how to further create value from the strategic perspective of enterprise development, it is the top priority for enterprises that have successfully implemented information systems. Three basic perspectives of CIOs The so-called informatization planning perspective is to look at the current situation and future development of enterprise informatization. Enterprise Informatization Planning should avoid the technical point of view and consider the development of it from the perspective of enterprise strategy. If the CIO lacks a clear understanding of the company's strategy, it is impossible to make an information plan suitable for the company's development. Second, CIOs must understand the changes in the enterprise environment. The business environment, technical environment, and competitive environment of enterprises are constantly changing. These changes must be keenly reflected in the revision of enterprise information planning. Finally, CIOs must be able to correctly and objectively assess the informatization status of their own enterprises and understand the gap between the current informatization status and the ideal status. In Enterprise Information Planning, CIOs can consider the overall development and progress of enterprise information systems based on the following three basic points of view: Structure. The structure of the information system should be constantly adjusted according to the changes in the enterprise's business environment. According to the development of the enterprise and the emergence of new businesses, new application requirements will be generated. At this time, of course, you must modify and delete the old modules and add new modules. In this case, the system structure is easily damaged. However, you must always ensure that the overall architecture of the enterprise information system is relatively stable. The structure adjustment of the system must be recorded to prevent the system architecture from being completely damaged after multiple changes. Overall point of view. Information System Adjustment always starts from some functions of the system. Therefore, some structural changes are inevitable. Function adjustment in functional departments sometimes brings local benefits, but it may be detrimental to the global benefits. Informatization Planning should clarify this point, and strive to combine local benefits with the overall benefits, so as not to undermine the integrity and uniformity of the overall structure of the information system because of the pursuit of local benefits. Internal and External views. With the development of information technology, the boundaries between enterprises and external entities become increasingly vague. Commercial partners and suppliers may form value chains with enterprises. Pay attention to this trend and reflect this development in information planning. Four Notes in practice In practice, informatization planning should be divided into two forms: long-term planning and short-term planning. The long-term plan should include an enterprise informatization development plan of about five years, which should be revised continuously based on the enterprise's development and the emergence of new technologies. The short-term plan should be implemented every year. CIOs and dedicated teams should be responsible for this work, and senior leaders must also ask questions in person. In addition, there are some important things worth noting. CIOs can check whether their information planning is successful. Clear enterprise informatization development vision It is very important to develop a clear future development vision and goal for enterprise informatization. Some enterprises do not have a clear vision even though they have thick information materials. In addition, if CIOs cannot clearly describe the future direction of Enterprise Informatization in a short period of time, they cannot describe the vision and objectives of Enterprise Informatization in a clear language, it is very difficult to get the support of the enterprise's senior management. In this case, it is possible that the enterprise information planning is on paper. Describe the value of Informatization Informatization Planning will inevitably involve the problem of continuing investment in informatization. Therefore, CIOs must be able to explain why they want to continue investing and what benefits this investment will bring to enterprises. If the CIO of an enterprise cannot describe the value of informatization in a way that the business personnel can understand, informatization will be regarded as a cost center of continuous investment. It should be understood that business personnel and IT personnel often have different understandings and measurements of value. Therefore, we must find a mechanism that both parties can accept to measure the value of informatization. It reflects the continuous improvement of the IT Management System Enterprise Informatization Planning requires not only hardware, network, and technology planning, but also the development planning of the IT management mechanism. For example, the establishment of information security systems and the improvement of information communication systems. In the development of information technology, it is often necessary to analyze various IT projects, determine the priority of these projects, and allocate limited IT resources. As the basis for such allocation, CIOs must be able to establish a mature IT management mechanism. In some enterprises, the internal paid service settlement system has been implemented to reflect the value and effective management of it. Design the services of the Information Technology Department into different service levels and set standards to measure these service levels. These standards clearly define rewards and punishments when they exceed or fall short of the target. Cultivate employees' information skills and awareness Enterprise Informatization involves many aspects related to human resources. This includes not only traditional training, salary, performance feedback, and career development opportunities, but also new organizational culture and systems. In the dynamic environment of enterprise operation, can an enterprise design a good career development path for its employees? Are their career development and it closely integrated? Do individual employees have good information system skills? Do it department employees have a sense of responsibility for providing good services to their business? Do employees realize the importance of information resources and knowledge accumulation for enterprise development? Can individuals and enterprises learn from experience well? These are closely related to the development of enterprise information systems.