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When a new technology appears, the old one experiences a sudden leap in performance. Whether you are an old- or a new-technology company, understanding how that phenomenon works can help you win during this critical transition period.

The IT productivity paradox debate has been going on for more than two decades, but the controversy has been exacerbated by a 2003 Harvard Business Review article by Nicolas Carr, who argues that IT doesn't matter. This case sheds light on the major drivers of IT investment: those investments targeted at improving operational efficiencies and those focused on entrenching a firm's strategic position. It does this by looking at the IT investment strategies of two of the world's largest financial institutions, HSBC and Citigroup. Of particular interest are how HSBC and Citigroup spend on IT projects, what drives their investments and the viability of measuring the efficacy of their investments in terms of improving operational efficiency or strategic position. By comparing the IT investments strategies of both banks, students will learn about the IT valuation process, the role of IT as a strategic necessity and IT's potential role in sustaining a firm's competitive advantage. Nominee for best paper award, International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS2007)

This teaching case discusses the decisions facing GlobShop, a global travel-retail company, in its efforts to offshore a significant portion of its information technology (IT) work. In response to the business challenges that arose due to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the company decided to outsource many of its IT activities to an Indian vendor. This case traces the key decisions made by the CIO and the challenges that were encountered during the planning and execution of the company's offshore sourcing strategy. These decisions pertain to the choice of tasks to be offshored, decisions about the vendor and the nature of sourcing arrangement, managing the vendor relationship and change management issues induced by offshoring. As GlobShop nears the completion of its 3-year agreement with the offshore vendor, the CIO is faced with decisions regarding continuing offshore outsourcing, extending the contract and related implications for the future of IT organization at GlobShop.

This teaching case discusses the challenges being faced by the technology managers at Indian Railways (IR) in the current scenario of a resurgent national economy coupled with increasing customer expectations. In the face of growing competition from road and low-cost airlines, to retain its customers, IR has responded by changing its business rules. The Railway Ministry expects a rapid response from Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) to incorporate all these changes in the passenger reservation system (PRS). The old PRS, which is time-tested and reliable, and has been serving the customers' needs for nearly two decades, is now proving to be relatively inflexible to match the rapidly changing business requirements. Although the current scenario of a constant need to change the programming logic of PRS has been making maintenance tougher for CRIS officials, they have realized that PRS is a time-tested, proven, and reliable technology. Though they would be happy to replace the old PRS with a new state-of-art system that would provide them greater maintenance flexibility, the repercussions associated with possible failure of the new system are far too serious. The case exhibits the current dilemma being faced by the head of CRIS, the umbrella agency for information technology (IT) implementation in IR: whether IR should continue using the old PRS technology with its inherent shortcomings, or should it take the risk and go in for a wholesale replacement with a new state-of-art technology which would provide greater maintenance flexibility?

This case study describes how the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and the Infocomm Development Authority, as lead agencies, jointly initiated and managed the implementation of a one-stop business licensing portal called OBLS (Online Business Licensing Service - https://licenses.business.gov.sg/) in the Singapore public sector. While mandate from the top for this strategic cross-agency project was strong, there were many hurdles in the form of people, process and technology that had to be overcome. The case study highlights these issues and challenges, and illustrates how they were successfully overcome for delivering cross-agency integrated e-Service for new business license application.

This case examines issues in the assessment and adoption of Internet technologies in a federal US government context, and describes in detail a pilot project to determine the feasibility of adopting an application service provider solution to support procurement by multiple federal agencies using a variety of different legacy transaction systems. The pilot test of the Internet Payment Platform (IPP) by the eMoney group of the United States Treasury's Financial Management Service involved three federal agencies and subsets of their suppliers. Participants saw many benefits from their use of the IPP, but agreed that for full-scale operation it needed to be modified to better fit the government procurement context. The project manager is weighing the pros and cons of conducting another pilot test using the same commercial software as before, or obtaining and customizing a new commercial package, or building a new system from scratch.

This case describes the implementation and subsequent failure of an innovative system installed in the bars of Alvalade XXI, the recently built football stadium in Lisbon, Portugal. Casa XXI, the company running the bars, had entrusted the project to an IT supplier who had limited experience with large systems. During the inauguration, the system failed spectacularly creating a chaotic situation. The fiasco meant not only a financial loss, but also a blow to the reputation of the company. The management blamed the supplier for the failure. The supplier, however, claimed that the problem was not technical but organizational, that is, poor planning of operations. Subsequent tests were inconclusive and failed to restore trust. At the end of the case, the CEO is considering the possibility to switch to an alternative supplier. He also wonders what they could have done to manage the project and the associated risks more effectively. The case highlights risk and project management issues in large systems implementations. The discussion can be structured around cost/benefit analysis, risk assessment, and project management. Relevant dimensions include: company operations, project scope, degree of innovation, technology used, system architecture, supplier selection, and project organization. In addition, the case raises governance questions: Who is responsible for the project? Even if the project is outsourced, how should the roles and responsibilities be apportioned between the company and the IT supplier(s)? What mechanisms should be used to plan and execute IT projects, and control their risks?

Capturing value from innovation requires innovators to figure out how to blunt inroads into the profit stream by imitators, customers, suppliers, and other providers of complementary products and services. In making strategic decisions around technology commercialization, managers often assume that the intellectual property environment and the architecture of the industry are beyond their control. This need not be so. Shows how managers can shape both the appropriability regime and the architecture of the industry in ways that can benefit the innovator by blunting the actions of others who may endeavor to tap into the stream of profits generated by innovation. Even small firms can play important roles. Tools include putting information into the public domain, helping to shape standards, and promoting modularity.

This teaching case portrays the issues surrounding the adoption of an emerging technology (mobile internet) by Agriculture ITO - an industry training organization in New Zealand. The widespread geographical nature of the organization creates a unique business scenario that can be of great value to instructors teaching IS management, technology adoption and mobility.

Knowledge is being discussed as one of the most important organizational resources. But these resources exist in specialized pockets dispersed across the organization, and dedicated knowledge management (KM) programs are required to improve their flow. However, high failure rates of such programs raise serious doubts about their ability to improve knowledge flows. This case traces the KM program of Infosys Technologies, Ltd - a Global Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise. The case describes how, in 1999, Infosys' top management detected a severe lack of organizational knowledge flows while implementing a program aimed at continuously improving their core business processes. A more detailed examination exposed that the lack of knowledge flows stifled the effectiveness of their organizational structure and their business model. Alarmed by these critical findings, Infosys initiated their KM program. A five-stage knowledge maturity model (KMM) was conceptualized to aid KM implementation. With people, processes, and technology as the three pillars of Infosys' KM program, KMM identified specific capabilities Infosys needed to develop in each of the five levels. Things worked fine till 2004 when Infosys began moving towards KMM Level 4, which required developing clear metrics to measure KM effectiveness, that is, improvements in knowledge flow. In the absence of such metrics, Infosys' Board of Directors started questioning company's financial investment in the KM program. The CEO, who championed the KM program, knew that he faced two key challenges - to convince the Board of future revenue prospects of the KM program, and to identify metrics for assessing improvements in organizational knowledge flows.

In 2005, Derek V. Smith, CEO of ChoicePoint, Inc., a leader in the personal data industry, was facing some difficult strategic challenges. Under his watch, the company had allowed a large security breach-compromising some 160 thousand personal files-which it did not prevent or detect immediately. The result was renewed attention and scrutiny on personal data privacy issues causing Congress to consider several new legislative bills. Meanwhile, pressure to make changes in the way he did business was mounting from the media, the Federal Trade Commission, influential privacy rights advocates, and the general public. The case focuses on Smith as he weighs his options after months of trying to change public sentiment. Smith needed to make a decision regarding the proper use of social security numbers but also the restoration of faith in his company and the personal data industry, as both were facing significant legitimacy threats.

Presents one company's efforts to implement a project management organization, or PMO, and the challenges they faced in doing so. Issues brought out in the case include defining the PMO's purpose and mission, the structure and governance of the PMO, and how to successfully implement it in what appears to be a resistant culture. John Strider, AtekPC's chief information officer (CIO), had strong convictions that the PMO-light model was the way to go. He had held back on hiring fill time employees for the PMO and was moving very slowly and cautiously so as not to violate AtekPC's culture. He was also concerned about the many issues that the PMO implementation had already raised. Were small steps building on small successes going to get the job done fast enough? With the ever increasing challenge of successfully managing information technology (IT), organizations are recognizing the need for greater discipline in managing IT projects. For many organizations, this has meant ratcheting up project management skills, processes, and governance structures within the organization by implementing a project management office (PMO). Unfortunately, there is little shared understanding of the challenges of implementing a PMO. Therefore, managers and their organizations have inadequate guidance to help them identify and overcome the obstacles they are likely to encounter.

Introduces students to the concepts covered in the Managing in the Information Age module on Enterprise IT.

Introduces students to the concepts covered in the Managing in the Information Age module on Network IT.

Introduces students to the concepts covered in the Managing in the Information Age module on Function IT.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Drawing upon a wealth of data, informed experience, and expert opinion--from Thomas Friedman to Bjarne Stroustrup, from David Gelernter to Nicholas Carr -- the author builds a case that enterprise software in large organizations has not delivered on its promise to fully integrate and intelligently control complex business processes while remaining flexible enough to adapt to changing business needs. Instead, ERP systems--including both software applications and the data they process--are variegated patchworks, containing 50 or more databases and hundreds of separate software programs installed over decades and interconnected by idiosyncratic, Byzantine, and poorly documented customized processes. To manage this growing complexity, IT departments have grown substantially: Today's IT departments spend 70% to 80% of their budgets just trying to keep existing systems running. The research shows, says the author, that the typical IT structure is so dense and extensive that it's often a miracle that it works at all. Enterprise systems that were supposed to streamline and simplify business processes instead have brought high risks, uncertainty, and a deeply worrying level of complexity. Rather than agility, they have produced rigidity and unexpected barriers to change, a veritable glut of information containing myriad hidden errors, and a cloud of questions regarding their overall benefits. How did this happen? Rettig points to the inherent limitations in the nature of software, the costs of implementation, and the vagaries of data. Indeed, she offers, enterprise software may be just too complex to deliver on its promises. She also suggests that the next new thing--service-oriented architecture (SOA)--is not likely to fare much better, for many of the same reasons. There are no easy fixes, cautions Rettig, save a large dose of sobriety, clear-eyed analysis, and emphasis on simplicity and efficiency.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. For many years now, companies seeking to deliver higher business performance by harnessing IT have focused on alignment--the degree to which the IT group understands the priorities of the business. In practical terms, that means there must be shared ownership and shared governance of IT projects. However, the authors contend that their research reveals a troubling pattern: Even at companies that were focused on alignment, business performance dependent on IT sometimes went sideways, or even declined. That's because underperforming capabilities are often rooted not just in misalignment but in the complexity of systems, applications, and other infrastructure. The complexity doesn't magically disappear just because an IT organization learns to focus on aligned projects rather than less aligned ones. On the contrary, the authors say, in some situations it can actually get worse. Costs rise, delays mount, and the fragmentation makes it difficult for managers to coordinate across business units. The research also showed that almost three-quarters of respondents are mired in the "maintenance zone." IT at these companies is generally underperforming, undervalued, and kept largely separate from a company's core business functions. Corporate management budgets the amounts necessary to keep the systems running, but IT doesn't offer enough added value to the business and often isn't expected to. Drawing on the experiences of Charles Schwab & Co., Selective Insurance Group, De Beers, First Data Corp. and National City, among others, the authors identify a group of best practices that constitute "IT-enabled growth."

The case begins with an overview of the business environment that led Hydro-Quebec to adopt a new approach to managing its information resources. The main external factors at play are described, along with their impact on Hydro-Quebec's decision to create six independent corporate divisions. This restructuring had the effect of substantially modifying Hydro-Quebec's organizational environment. The case chiefly describes how the company's response to these external pressures led to major internal changes, such as the establishment of a shared services centre and the transfer of responsibility for information resource management to the divisions. The case demonstrates how, through a major project to computerize Hydro-Quebec Distribution's (HQD) activities, a new IT management model came to be and how the sharing of roles and responsibilities was implemented. Finally, the case study discusses the challenges faced by the company in implementing the new information resource management model.

Codelco was a Chilean copper-mining company, widely considered to be one of the most professionally managed firms in South America in spite of the fact that it was 100% government-owned. A $10.5 billion company in 2005, Codelco faced the challenge of incorporating information technology into its production processes, which had historically been very manual in nature. CEO Juan Villarzu's initial turnaround attempts introduced a customer-centric corporate culture to his ranks, but he was still challenged by how to create an outsourcing strategy given his location and the traditionally low IT-to-total-spending ratio in the mining industry. Villarzu envisioned moving to a robust IT architecture, enhancing the solutions that were available, identifying further needs in the company and deciding how to fix them, and working together with Codelco's business processes to assess, plan, and build new IT projects.

Examines the type of security that is appropriate for an Internet company to have on its site. Focuses on a 20-person electronic e-commerce company trying to decide what parts of the information security product line they should acquire from the largest security service company in Japan, Secom. The services include everything from server hosting, advanced housing, firewall intrusion detection, etc. Introduces the wide range of products that can be used to ensure secure operations.