Information Technology Management Issues

The implementation of global information systems is based on the coordination and inter-communication of software applications, hardware components, telecommunications, networks infrastructure, and network management in a cross-border business environment (Sankar and Prabhakar, 1992). Rapid evolution of technologies causes efficient and effective performance of global information systems as a result of real-time and accurate transborder data flows. Organizations need to realize and understand the technological issues involved in order to adopt the most suitable technologies for global information systems. The essential technological issues and implication of global transition that need to be considered are telecommunication availability, network infrastructure, security, systems equipment, data resources utilization, systems standards, software applications availability, systems integration, and systems recovery.

Furthermore, the review of the global IT literature and issues suggests that an organization's IT architecture is generally divided into four classes. This is based on the fundamental properties of an organization's IT environment, and they are global IT infrastructure (refers to hardware and operation systems), global business applications (refers to software), global telecommunication network (refers to communication), and data/information systems improvement (refers to data and applications). Knowles (1996) and Passmore (1997) have described the IT architecture as the underlying technology platform that supports all data and applications, including hardware, systems software and communication. Accordingly, the fundamental properties of an organization's IT architecture are essentially related to hardware, software, network, and data/information. Figure 3 illustrates these four classes.

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Figure 3: IT management classes

The criteria of correlated issues of each class are outlined as follows.

Global IT infrastructure - this class covers the development, implementation and maintenance of global information architecture components such as hardware, equipment, technology platform, and supports.

Global business applications - this refers to all the development, management, implementation, maintenance, integration, and improvement of global business application softwares.

Global telecommunication network - this class includes all the network communication structures, facilities, supports, and management to provide the business data flowing within and between organizations.

Data and information systems improvement - this applies to the enhancement of data or information in terms of quality assurance, integration, security, contingency plan, and effective utilization.



Managing Globally with Information Technology
Managing Globally with Information Technology
ISBN: 193177742X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2002
Pages: 224

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