The Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)

Strategic use of IT in Organization: the case of

Svenska Resenatverket
By
Imran Ali imrania@kth.se
Sajjadul Robin technovicebd@gmail.com
Umar Shah ufshah@kth.se
Yigezu Balcha Jorro jorro@kth.se

(Group #21)

For the Partial fulfillment of the Requirement for the Course Strategic
Management IT (SMIT/IV2031)

August 25, 2010

Stockholm,
Sweden

1
Table of Contents
Page
Acknowledgement----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------3
Executive
Summary----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----4
CHAPTER
ONE-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----5
1. Introduction-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------5
1.1 Background----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------5
1.2 Research
Questions-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---6
1.3 Purpose of the
Study---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6
1.4 Audience of the
Study-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------7
1.5 Scope of the
Study----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------7
1.6 Limitation of the
Study-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------7
CHAPTER
TWO-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--8

2
2. Research
Methodology------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------8
2.1 Case Study
Research---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------8
2.2 Data
Collection-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----10
2.3 Analysis and
Presentation-------------------------------------------------------------------------------11
2.4 Validation of
Results-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------11
CHAPTER
THREE--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---12
3. Literature
Review--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------12
3.1 The Role of IS/IT in Business and organizational
Strategy-----------------------------------12
3.2 Business IT
Alignment---------------------------------------------------------------------------------13
3.3 Impact of IT on Business and
Strategy-------------------------------------------------------------15
3.3.1 Impact of IT on Business
Operations---------------------------------------------------------16
3.3.2 Impact of IT on
Strategy-------------------------------------------------------------------------16
CHATER
FOUR----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----19
3
 4. Results and Analysis and Presentation of
results----------------------------------------------------19
4.1 Overview of the Case Company: Svenska Resenatverket
---------------------------------------19
4.2 Results----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------19

4.3 Analysis and

Presentation-------------------------------------------------------------------------------20
4.3.1 Role of IS/IT in Business and organizational Strategy in
Svenska
Resenatverket
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------20
4.3.2 Business IT Alignment in Svenska
Resenatverket----------------------------------------21
4.3.3 IT impact on business operations and business strategies in
Svenska
Resenatverket-----------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------27
4.3.4 IT Applications Critical for Business Strategy in Svenska
Resenatverket----------28
CHAPTER
FIVE-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---29
5. Conclusions and
Recommendations-----------------------------------------------------------------
----29
5.1 Conclusions----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------29
5.2 Recommendations-------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------29
4
6. References----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------31
7. Appendixes---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------33
7.1 Appendix A: Information about the case
Company-----------------------------------------------33
7.2 Appendix B: The Questionnaire used for
Interview-----------------------------------------------33
7.3 Appendix C: Transcription of the Interview (Questions and
Answers)-----------------------35
7.4 Appendix D: Contributions of each team
Member-----------------------------------------------41

Acknowledgement

First of all we would like to acknowledge the course teaching team: Dr. Lazar
Rusu, Mohamed EL-Mekawy, Georg Hodosi and Haleh Mardanian for their

5
inspiration and guidance when we are doing on this project. They have been
at our disposal for every help and advices we need. We like to use this
opportunity to thank you all.

We want to extend our thanks to Mickeal Robertson, CEO and the IT project
manager, Björn Höglind, of Svenska Resenatverket for taking their time and
willingly answering our Interview questions.

Group 21 Members

Executive Summary

The roles that IT is playing are dramatically increased in every walk of

life. It has already changed the ways individuals communicate, educate,
entertain, make businesses, etc. This also applies as IT has already changed

6
the ways organization design their business processes, structures, strategies
and missions which are supported and sometimes even driven by IT
applications. To harvest this and many more benefits from the IT/IS,
organizations are aligning their business strategies with their IT strategies
and develop and maintain critical IT application to this end.

This study is done as an academic exercise to investigate Strategic use

of IT in an organization: the case of Global Text using case study research
methodology. The Study revealed that IT is not only support for the business
of the case company but a driver and they have already developed the
understanding that they can’t exist with out the use of IT.

Descriptors: IT Management, Use of IT, Strategic Management, IT in Organizations, IT and

Business Alignment

Chapter One

1. Introduction

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 1.1 Background

The application of IT in business processes in day-to-day activities have

dramatically changed and are changing the business landscape [2], [7] to
the extent that we can say it has revolutionized every aspects of human
being these days. It has already changed the way we communicate, educate,
entertain, conduct business, etc [1]. There is no area that has not been
affected by the development of the IT/ICT sector.

Organizations in general and Government service offering in particular

is changed as a result of the development where many countries of the world
are changed their services from the traditional one to e-service with the
application of IT/ICT in different business processes and IT as a result has got
Strategic importance at individual, organizational, national and international
levels. It has helped in speeding up the business processes which in turn
results in saving the time spent by customers to get a given services among
others.
To reap these benefits and many others that IT is offering, companies
need to develop IT strategy that goes with the Business Strategy. That is to
say that IT strategy in a given company needs to be aligned with the
business strategy in such a way that IT enables the business processes
achieves their intended goals.
This study, therefore, is aimed at identifying how IT is of strategic
importance in Svenska Resenatverket. It will answer questions: what are the
Stratgic uses of IT in Svenska Resenatverket? What business processes in
Svenska Resenatverket are supported by IT? How IT functionalities are
managed in Svenska Resenatverket? What impacts IT has got in the business
operations of Svenska Resenatverket? How IT and Business Srategies are
aligned, etc among others.

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 The report is structured into five chapters where chapter one is
introduction, chapter two is the part where we defined the methodology we
employed in conducting the study, chapter three is the literature review,
Chapter four is Analysis and presentation of study results. Conclusions are
made and recommendations are also forwarded in chapter five of the report.

1.2 Research Questions

The following are the research questions that we intended to answer.

1. What are the roles that IS/IT play in support of the Business and
Organizational strategy?
2. How is Business and IT are aligned?
3. What are the Impacts of IT on business Operations and Strategies?
4. What are the IT applications that are critical for business strategies?
5. How those IT applications support the business strategy?

1.3 Purpose of the Study

To answer the aforementioned research questions, the general
purpose of the study is to investigate the Strategic use of IT in organizations
with the case of Svenska Resenatverket. The specific objectives include:
• To Analyze the role that IS/IT is playing in support of business and
organizational strategy in Svenska Resenatverket (using Information
Systems Strategy Triangle from Pearlson and Saunders (2009));
• To Asses the business-IT alignment (using the strategic alignment
model of Luftman (2000));
• To Analyze the IT impact on business operations and business
strategies of Svenska Resenatverket (using McFarlan strategic grid
(1983)).
• To Identify the IT applications that are critical for business strategy and
how these IT applications are supporting business strategy in Svenska
Resenatverket.

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 1.4 Audiences of the Study
This Study is done as part of academic exercise but the output from
the study could be used by the case organization in their endeavors of
making use of IT in their different business processes and help them improve
the already existing ones. They could be considered as the audiences of our
study as the output could help them at the end of the day. Of course, as
academic exercise, the course instructors and supervisors are our audiences
as they evaluate it from different perspectives; fellow classmates could also
be considered our audiences as the output will be presented to them and
they might learn from this study or further enrich it.
1.5 Scope of the Study
The scope of the study is limited only to exploring strategic use of IT in
the case company, Svenska Resenatverket. We limited our study only to
Svenska Resenatverket to make the project manageable within the time
framework of the study. Otherwise, we firmly believe that studying Strategic
use of IT in diversified organizations could help to investigate thoroughly how
organizations are using IT and for what purpose, how it varies from
organization to organization, etc.
1.6 Limitations
We believe that this is a big project of great importance where by
students can get hands on experience of research in IT. It is our firm belief
that it needs to be done in large organizations to get well informed
information about the subject areas that need to be covered in the project.
One of the limitations that we faced is that the interviewees are not up-to-
date of those book terminologies which we must have to use in our interview
questions which have got impact on the amount of information we got from
the interview. Thanks to the methodology we use, we manage to clarify
issues on the spot to get the required information.
The other limiting factor worth mentioning here is the mobility of
members from the group which forced us start working after some time. This

10
has got its own limitations in the phases of the projects like submission of
progress report.
Chapter Two

2. Study Methodology

We used Qualitative research method as our main scientific method on

which we based our study. Qualitative research is a field of inquiry applicable
to many disciplines and subject matters [3]. It is used to collect data that
prove there is potential problem and is a means to explain based on the
attributes of source of data [4]. It provides results that are detailed
appreciation of the phenomena under study and can tell researcher what
people feel and what they think but not aimed at addressing how many
people think that way [4]. Our aim in this study is not to identify how many
people think what the Strategic use of IT are in their business process but
identifying how it has been used, what applications are there, what are the
challenges, their business and IT alignments, etc. It is because of the
aforementioned strengths of qualitative research method and our objective
of the study that we chose it over other research methods. Specifically we
employed case study research method as we limit ourselves to only one
company due to time limitations.

2.1 Case Study Research Methodology

Case Study Research Methodology is employed when the central aim

of the research is to answer questions such as how, why and what [9]. “From
a research strategy point of view, the case study methodology is a way of
establishing valid and reliable information or findings which add to the
accumulated knowledge of the processes by which business and many other
organizations functions” [9].

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 Different authors gave different types of case study research that one
need to choose from based on the purpose of the research. In the list of
different types of case study research are: Explanatory, Exploratory,
Descriptive, and Multiple, Intrinsic, Instrumental and collective case study
research [10]. “Yin categorizes case studies as explanatory, exploratory, or
descriptive. He also differentiates between single, holistic case studies and
multiple-case studies while Stake identifies case studies as intrinsic,
instrumental, or collective” [10]. Definition of what each of these types
mean is given in table 1 below.

Table 1: Definitions of Different Types of Case Studies [10].

No. Case Study Definition

Type
1. Explanatory This type of case study would be used if you were seeking
to answer a question that sought to explain the presumed
causal links in real-life interventions that are too complex
for the survey or experimental strategies. In evaluation
language, the explanations would link program
implementation with program effects Yin (2003) in [10]
2. Exploratory This type of case study is used to explore those situations
in which the intervention being evaluated has no clear,
single set of outcomes Yin (2003) in [10]
3. Descriptive This type of case study is used to describe an intervention
or phenomena the real-life context in which it occurred Yin
(2003) in [10].
4. Multiple-case A multiple case study enables the researcher to explore
studies differences within and between cases. The goal is to
replicate findings across cases. Because comparisons will be
drawn, it is imperative that the cases are chosen carefully
so that the researcher can predict similar results across
cases, or predict contrasting results based on a theory Yin
(2003) in [10].
12
5. Intrinsic Stake (1995) in [10] uses the term intrinsic and suggests
that researchers who have a genuine interest in the case
should use this approach when the intent is to better
understand the case. It is not undertaken primarily because
the case represents other cases or because it illustrates a
particular trait or problem, but because in all its
particularity and ordinariness, the case itself is of interest.
The purpose is NOT to come to understand some abstract
construct or generic phenomenon. The purpose is NOT to
build theory.
6. Instrumental Is used to accomplish something other than understanding
a particular situation. It provides insight into an issue or
helps to refine a theory. The case is of secondary interest; it
plays a supportive role, facilitating our understanding of
something else. The case is often looked at in depth, its
contexts scrutinized, its ordinary activities detailed, and
because it helps the researcher pursue the external
interest. The case may or may not be seen as typical of
other cases Stake (1995) in [10].
7. Collective Collective case studies are similar in nature and description
to multiple case studies Yin (2003) in [10].
From the aforementioned lists of case study research methodology,
this study fall under the descriptive case study type as the objective is to
know the Importance of IT in their Business processes, how their IT and
Business strategies are aligned, what IT applications they possess to support
their business, etc and present them in a descriptive way.

2.2 Method of Data Collection

Primary Sources

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 Interview Questionnaire is used to collect data from the case company,
Svenska Resenatverket. We used open format questions as major data
collection technique from the concerned personnel in the sections mainly
from the CEO, who is also in charge of the Business processes of the
company and the CTO. This gives the respondent the opportunity to express
their feelings and opinion which we believe helped us get true, insightful and
even unexpected suggestions.
Interview Questions are used to collect data about what IT applications
are there in the company, how IT is used in their business processes, how
they manage IT functionalities, Strategic use of IT, Problems they face in the
use of IT, Business and IT alignment, etc.

Secondary Sources

We made desktop research on the general issues of IT, IT applications

in organizations, IT and organizational Strategy, Business IT alignments,
Impact of IT on Business operations and Strategies, etc. Printed materials;
books, Journal Articles, conference proceedings, and Internet sources are
used to know the subject area in depth.

2.3 Analysis and Presentation of Results

Results of the study are presented in a way of addressing areas of IT

use in their Business Processes, Roles, Business IT alignments, Impacts of IT
on Business operations, and Business strategy, IT application that are critical
for Business strategy and how they are supporting business strategy are
each described specific to the case company, Svenska Resenatverket. The
study results are presented in a descriptive manner addressing each of the
aforementioned areas and of course where ever we deem necessary we used
literature to further explain the results.

14
 2.4 Validation of Study Result

To validate our study results, we employed Triangulation Method [5],

where we crosschecked the result of our analysis of data collected vis-à-vis
Strategic uses of IT in other organization from literature as part of
verification. Because one of our group mates is working with the case
company, we used the knowledge of him as one of the means of validation of
results as well.

Chapter Three

3. Review of Literature

This part of the study report is where we reviewed different secondary

sources, internet, and printed materials to better understand the study areas
before we go into assessments of the issues in the case company, Svenska
Resenatverket .

3.1 Role of IS/IT in Business and organizational

Strategy

We are living in the age where information is the only source for taking
decisions in any organization for making it successful. IT is playing an
important role in designing different business models. “Designing a
business process is largely a matter of diligence and creativity. Emerging It
technology however are beginning to facilitate the process of process design
some computer aided systems engineering (CASE) products are design
15
primarily to draw process model”[13]. Business study drive both information
and organization strategy and for successful business strategy both
organizational and IS should be strong. The firms’ IT infrastructure support
their organizational structure; the software, hardware, and the network
design they implement will unilaterally decide whether they will be able to
get market competitive advantage or not.

Figure 1:Information Systems strategy Triangle [15]

“Information Technology is having impact on all trade industries and

businesses, in service as well as in manufacturing. It is affecting workers at
all levels of organizations, from the executives to middle management and
clerks. Information technology is increasingly becoming a basic factor of all
types of technologies such as craft, engineering, routine, and non-routine”
[2]. Information technology getting greater use in all department of business;
it has become more easier for managers to monitor the overall performance
of company and individual and at the lower level it also has share in making
basic infrastructure of the company.
Integration between these three edges of the triangle makes an
organization successful in getting its competitive advantages. The best
information strategy makes a superb combination only if suitable hardware,
software and network are applied.

3.2 Business IT Alignment

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 “Strategic alignment focuses on the activities that management
performs to achieve cohesive goals across the IT and other functional
organizations (e.g., finance, marketing, H/R, manufacturing)” [6]. Business IT
alignment is the application of IT in a given business processes in harmony
with the business goals, objectives and needs, which addresses two fold
Optimized
questions: the question of how IT is aligned with Processes
business and how the
business could and should be aligned with IT [6].

As IT is becoming curial and decisive in every day

•COMMUNICATIONS: life especially
Informal, pervasive in
•COMPETENCY/VALUE: Extended to external
business, its linkage with business operations
partners is also growing through time.
•GOVERNANCE: Integrated across the org &
Companies that reap maximumImproved/Managed
benefits Processes
out of IT applications
partners in their
•PARTNERSHIP: IT-businessco-adaptive
business strongly link their IT systems strategy
•SCOPE & with their business
ARCHITECTURE: Evolve strategy.
with partners
•SKILLS: Education/careers/rewards across the
Others that understood IT brought organization
such a fundamental change are
leapfrogging to link their IT systems with their business operations.
Accordingly, there is a model to assess how IT and Businesses in a given
•COMMUNICATIONS: Bonding, unified
company is aligned which helps•COMPETENCY/VALUE:
to “measure howCost effective;
well some partner
the technical and
value; Dashboard managed
•GOVERNANCE:
business organizations work together Managed
or it can be usedacross the organization
to assess alignment
Established/Focused Processes
•PARTNERSHIP: IT enables/drives business strategy
•SCOPE
within the IT department itself” [8]. & ARCHITECTURE:
This assessment Integrated
model with
haspartners
got six
•SKILLS: Shared risk & rewards
dimensions which include Communication maturity, Competency/Value-
measurement maturity, Governance maturity,
COMMUNICATIONS: Partnership
Good understanding; Maturity, scope
Emerging
relaxed
and architecture maturity, and Skill Maturity
•COMPETENCY/VALUE: Some[8]. These
cost are the components
effectiveness;
Dashboard established
that one needs to take into consideration
•GOVERNANCE: when
Relevant process assessing
across the business IT
Committed Processes
organization
alignment in a given company. Based
•PARTNERSHIP: on as
IT seen these components,
an asset; company’s IT
Process driver
•SCOPE & ARCHITECTURE: Integrated across the
Business alignment can be placed at different level of maturity, level 1
organization
•SKILLS: Emerging value service provider
through level 5, where obviously level 1 is the lowest and level 5 is the
highest level of maturity showing
•COMMUNICATIONS: the different
Limited business/IT behaviors in each of the
understanding
•COMPETENCY/VALUE: Functional cost efficiency
assessment criteria as depicted
•GOVERNANCE: Tactical at in figure 1level,
Functional below.occasional
responsive
Figure 2:•PARTNERSHIP:
Strategic Alignment
Initial/Ad-Hoc IT emerging Maturity
Processes as an asset;Summary [6]
Process enabler
•SCOPE & ARCHITECTURE: Transaction (e.g., ESS, DSS)
•SKILLS: Differs across functional organizations
Level 5

•COMMUNICATIONS: Business/IT lack understanding

17
•COMPETENCY/VALUE: Some technical measurements
•GOVERNANCE: No formal process, cost center, reactive
priorities
•PARTNERSHIP: Conflict; IT a cost of doing business
•SCOPE & ARCHITECTURE: Traditional (e.g., acctng, email)
•SKILLS: IT takes risk, little reward; Technical training
 Level 4

Level 3

Level 2

Level 1

Level 1
According to Luftman (2000), companies whose business-IT alignment is
judged to this level is said to have the lowest level of Strategic alignment
maturity.
Level 2
Companies that achieved the maturity level of committed process are
recognized as having committed to begin the process for strategic alignment
maturity (Luftman, 2000). It can’t be said that companies at this level of
maturity meet business-IT alignment for it requires for the business and IT
folks to be fully aware of the different uses of IT in business (Luftman, 2000).

18
Level 3
Companies that meet this level of maturity achieve an established and
focused Strategic alignment maturity which focuses on specific business
objectives (Luftman, 2000).
Level 4
This level of maturity is where companies have a managed strategic
alignment maturity. The improved/managed process level of maturity
requires firms to have a managed strategic alignment maturity which shows
good governance and services (Luftman, 2000). The roles that IT plays at
this maturity level firm are to support the enhancements of business process
to attain sustainable competitive advantage and to contribute to business
success in an innovative and imaginative ways (Luftman, 2000).
Level 5
Companies that reach Level 5 maturity level is defined as having an
optimally aligned strategic alignment maturity (Luftman, 2000). Companies
or firms that achieved this level of maturity often achieve integration
between the IT strategic planning process and the strategic business process
through a sustained governance process (Luftman, 2000).

3.3 Impact of IT on Business and Strategy

In a successful organization business strategy, IS and organizational

process are compatible. Each is affected by others. So IT needs to be aligned
with business and strategy. Successful business model will provide value to
all stake holders. It’s achieved by alignment among environment, strategy
and capabilities. Lot of investment for IT is observed right now in the market.
It was estimated that IT market will reach $621 billion in 2005 [11]. Based on
our literature, “The Strategic Grid” [12], impact of IT on business and
strategy is described below:
McFarlan’s “The Strategic Grid” assists executives to analysis their
organization’s project portfolio. This analysis provides project priorities and

19
resource requirement. Fulfilling priorities and resources tightly will achieve
goals and performance targets. So, project portfolio is an important issue for
organizational formation. McFarlan suggests that project portfolio can be
assessed with two key dimensions: 1. the impact on business operations 2.
the impact on strategy. Depending on the alignment of IT to strategy and
business, organization can be placed in one of four quadrants: a. support b.
factory c. turnaround d. strategic

3.3.1 Impact of IT on Business Operations

This dimension assesses the impact of IT on business operation. This

impact depends on the type of business and its requirement of IT alignment.
Some business needs zero-defect operation. That means if IT fails, the
company will face severe loss. The organization can’t live without flawless IT
stream in their business. This situation can be happened in stock exchange,
global shipment, airways etc.
Again, in some organizations IT just plays the role of support. IT helps
to expand business. IT failure for even few hours has no effect for the
business. For example, law firms don’t require IT so enormously in business
operation. They mainly focus on expanding legal professionals, new market
and legal services. IT decisions are taken rarely in board level

3.3.2 Impact of IT on Strategy

This dimension assesses the impact of IT on strategy. IT innovations
lead strategy evolution and is related to the firm’s existence. In some firms
IT is very much linked up with the strategy of the company. All the IT
development activities are decided in the board room. Personnel assigned
with assuring business success and survival takes decision for IT. On the
contrary there are some firms where IT affects strategy very low. In this firm,
improvement of IT is required for incremental and operational

20
improvements. It is needed to improve a firm’s cost profile but small impact
in the whole industry.

The strategic grid use two dimensions to define four categories of IT

impact: Support, factory, turnaround, strategic. Project in support quadrant
has little impact on organization’s strategy. IT specialist work with local end
users often to design and implement this support type project. Projects
within factory quadrant reduce costs and improve performance of the core
operations of an organization. Project goal is targeted toward cost and
quality benefits. Projects within turn around phase are designed to exploit
emerging strategic opportunities. Business executives are often involved in
designing, implementing and managing these projects. Technology partners
may be added too to the team for bringing required technology expertise. IT
projects within strategic quadrant involve IT in both core operations and core
strategy. IT initiatives are often defined, managed in board meeting of the
corporation.
The strategic grid use two dimensions to define four categories of IT impact:
Support, factory, turnaround, strategic.

21
 Figure 3: McFarlan’s Strategic Grid [12]

In the X axis, CIO plot IT project if it has an impact on the strategy. In

another way, the CIO tries to assess the project offering to the firm. In short,
what does this project offer the firm by way of affecting one of Porter’s five
forces in the company’s favor? [17]. The project may affect the position in
the market, affect bargaining power of supplier, and raise barriers to entry
into the market. The project may introduce new products or service into the
market.
In the Y axis, CIO plot project if it has an impact on the IT operations. The
project that exists high on the graph improves the efficiency. It can improve
the quality of existing system and business processes or lower their costs.
Project in support quadrant has little impact on organization’s strategy. IT
specialist work with local end users often to design and implement this
support type project.
Projects within factory quadrant reduce costs and improve performance of
the core operations of an organization. Project goal is targeted toward cost
and quality benefits. Projects within turn around phase are designed to
exploit emerging strategic opportunities. Business executives are often
involved in designing, implementing and managing these projects.
Technology partners may be added too to the team for bringing required
technology expertise. IT projects within strategic quadrant involve IT in both
core operations and core strategy. IT initiatives are often defined, managed
in board meeting of the corporation.
1
K. Hale, et al., “2Q03 Update: IT services Forecasts, 2002-2005,” Gartner
Group Research, july 2003
2
URL: http://visual.placodermi.org/2009/01/14/toolkit-mcfarlans-strategic-
grid/ , accessed in May 08, 2010

22
Chapter Four

4. Results and Analysis and Presentations

Under this part of the report, we presented the study result and the
analysis of the results. These are the findings that we got as a result of the
Interview we made with the CIO and CTO of the company. Before we go into
this, of course the company’s historical background is presented.

4.1 Svenska Resenatverket: Company Background

Svenska Resenatverket is working with IT projects. Their products are mostly
related to travel websites. They have travel guide for different countries.
They are running websites like: http://flightradar24.com which has more than
6000 visitors daily. During flight scheduling problem, it increased to 1.5
million hits daily. They are maintaining their server in an efficient way to
handle this large traffic. Besides those travelling websites, they have some
websites of different tastes like: http://www.bikten.nu (you can confess here
online), http://www.sms.se (Swedish largest sms websites), and comparing
prices of flights, cars and hotels etc.1 They are working with Google adwords
to be successful in their business.

4.2 Results

The following are the findings from our interview:

• The company has got IT and Business Strategy.
• The CEO is responsible for the defining the IT Strategy.

23
 • The knowledge of the IT People is the main factor based on which they
define what technology to use.
• The company is operating in Sweden but has got basis in Britain.
• IT plays a vital role as they don’t exist without IT.
• IT decisions are made daily.
• Most of the IT costs of the company are advertisement on Google.
• There is quite good understanding between the IT and the Business
folks.
• There is good communication between the company and other
partners.
• They make decisions all together.
• There is no defined ways of evaluating projects after completion.
• IT supports the business Strategy.
• The staff has got the required skills.
• The IT and Business Staff has got very good understanding of each
other.
• The Most critical Application is flightradar24.com
• The IT Business alignment maturity level of the company is at level 3+

4.3. Analysis and Presentations

Here under, a descriptive presentation of the real situation in the case

company, Svenska Resenatverket, is made by classifying issues around the
four themes of the project: Role of IS/IT in Business and organizational
Strategy, Business IT Alignment, the IT impact on business operations and
business strategies and IT applications that exists in the company in support
of their business objectives. Where ever found important, further clarification
of the topics under discussion has also been made from literatures.

24
 4.3.1 Analysis of IS/IT in Business and
organizational Strategy in Svenska
Resenatverket
For questions we raised as part of assessing the role of IT/IS in the
business and organizational Strategy at Svenska Resenatverket, the CEO
explained that the company is based on IT and their very existence depends
on IT. Accordingly, IT is not only supporting their business but also driving
their business. It is found out that the company has got a structure which
they are satisfied of in that it helps them achieve their business objective.
The IT strategy emanates from the business strategy in the sense that it
supports the company’s business goal.

4.3.2 Analysis of Business IT Alignment in Svenska

Resenatverket

We have posed questions to both the CEO and CTO to know how their IT and
Businesses are aligned in a way of addressing the 6 components that are
used to measure business IT alignment stated by Luftman (2000). Here
under, before presenting the analysis, we found it important to refresh what
these 6 components are and show the elements that are under each
component that directly or indirectly helps us measure the IT-Business
alignment maturity level of a firm. What is really there at our case company,
Svenska Resenatverket? But before we go into the specific situation at
Svenska Resenatverket, it is necessary to show up the pictorial dipction of
the elements in each component and see how they interact.

25
 COMMUNICATIONS GOVERNANCE
COMPETENCY/VALUE
Understanding of MEASUREMENTS Business Strategic
Business By IT Planning
IT Metrics
Understanding of IT by IT Strategic Planning
Business Business Metric
Reporting/
Inter/Intra- Balanced Metric Organization
Organizational Structure
Learning Service Level
Agreements Budgetary Control
Protocol Rigidity
Benchmarking IT Investment
Management
Knowledge Formal Assessments/
Sharing reviews Steering
Committee(s)
Liaison(s) Continues Improvement
effectiveness Prioritization Process
SIX IT BUSINESS
PARTNERSHIP
SCOPE &ALIGENMENT
ARCHITECTURE SKILLS
Business PerceptionMATURITY CRITERIA
of IT Value Traditional Innovation,
Enabler/Driver, External Entrepreneurship
Role of IT in
Strategic Business Standards Articulation Locus of Power
Planning Architectural
Integration: Management Style
Shared Goals, Risk,
Rewards/Penalties -Functional Change Readiness
Organization
IT Program Career crossover
Management -Enterprise
Education, Cross-
Relationship/Trust -Inter-enterprise Training
Style
Architectural Social, Political
Sponsor/Champion Transparency Trusting
Environment
Flexibility Managing
Figure ion(s)
2: effectiveness
Strategic Alignment Maturity Criteria (Luftman,
Emerging Technology

2000)
Being described by these components highlighted in the picture above, it is
possible to describe where a given company is with regards to the level of IT-
Business Alignment maturity it has achieved.

A. Communication Maturity
One of the parameters to measure in assessing the business IT alignment
maturity level is communication. It is meant to measure how well the
companies business and IT folks understand each other, how frequently they
connect to each other and how effectively they communicate their
organizational outputs or information with the counterparts and others that

26
they are working with either in the form of informing or to make decision
upon [8]. Here under is the description of what the different elements that
one should look into look like at our company as part of assessing its overall
communication maturity level.

• Understanding of Business By IT
At our case company, according to the CEO, there is a strong understanding
between the IT and Business folks in the sense that the company’s IT people
understands their business functions well as the business is totally based on
IT. This means that the company’s IT folks know their business and the
potential impact or importance of IT for their functionalities. The Business
people also understand the potential use of IT for their Business.

• Inter/Intra-Organizational Learning

There is a strong both Inter/Intra organizational learning at Svenska

Resenatverket as they meet daily to either initiate projects, discuss on the
progress of the already started once or tackle problems they face in their
daily operations. Communication is done either informally in person, through
internal telephone or email.

• Knowledge Sharing
There a high intention and value for knowledge sharing at Svenska
Resenatveket but there is no established formal forums to do that.

• Liaison(s) effectiveness
According to the CEO, it seems that Svenska Resenatveket is effective with
accomplishing its business objectives.

27
From the aforementioned descriptions we rated the communication maturity
to be 4-.

B. Competency/Value-Measurement Maturity
This is one of the 6 parameters that one needs to look into during assessing
companies for their IT business alignment. It is a parameter to measure how
well companies measure its performance and projects [8]. Here under are
the description of different elements based on which the competency/value
measurement Maturity is measured specific to Svenska Resenatverket.

IT Metrics, Business Metrics, and Balanced Metrics

IT is the driving force of the Business at Svenska Resenatverket and the business
processes are totally dependent on the IT. This means that there is a good balance
of the two metrics.

• Formal Assessments/ Reviews

In this line, at Svenska Resenatverket, though they are evaluating their day
to day operations, they didn’t evaluate it in the form of projects. The reason
for this, according to CEO, is that they started a project 3 years back but it is
still going on and as a result they didn’t evaluate it.

• Continues Improvement
At Svenska Resenatverket, they believe in continuous improvements to get
acquainted with the ever changing IT development. This is simply because
their business depends and driven by IT and if not update and make
improvements accordingly they believe that they will be knocked out of the
business.
We rated maturity level for Competency /Value measurement to be at 3+
and the company should perform continuous assessment and evaluations of
their businesses functionalities and projects to achieve higher level

28
 C. Governance Maturity
The third parameter that is taken into consideration while measuring IT
business alignment maturity is governance maturity. “This dimension deals
with how well the company connects its business strategy to IT priorities,
technical planning, and budgeting” [8]

• Business Strategic Planning

It is learned that the CEO is in charge of designing and managing the
Business strategic directions and we felt that it is not well coordinated and
participatory. Such people like Business managers and IT managers need to
be involved for a company to have a full-fledged Business Strategic Plan.

• IT Strategic Planning

At Svenska Resenatverket, the IT Manager and the CEO are the main people
who are in charge of designing the IT Strategic Plan. As the company’s
business is based and derived by IT, we feel that the IT Manager having a
lion share of impact but as CEO is the main person planning the business
strategic plan it is the CEO who is ultimately responsible for the IT Strategic
plan as well.

• Organizational Structure
Svenska Resenatverket has got flat organizational structure. It is not a
centralized decision making approach that they follow; departments have
got the power to make decisions at their level. These they believe help them
achieve their business objectives.

The maturity Level for Governance is 3-

D. Partnership Maturity

29
The fourth parameter to measure the maturity level of IT and business
alignment is partnership maturity. It is to measure the partnership that exists
between the IT department and the Business units in a given company in a
way of meeting the business goal of the company [8].

• Business Perception of IT Value

As mentioned in the other part of the report, at Svenska Resenatverket the
business is IT driven in that it is totally based on IT application. We can say
that IT is both an enabler and driver of business functionalities in the
company. As a result, there is a good Business perception of IT values.

• Role of IT in Strategic Business Planning

Business Planning is mainly based on the Roles that IT plays and the
changing faces of IT and the company changes their Strategic Business plans
depending on the changes in IT.

• Shared Goals, Risk, Rewards/Penalties

According to the CEO of Svenska Resenatverket, they share risks and
rewards as they do things with discussions and sharing experiences and
knowledge both informally and formally.

• Sponsor/Championing(s) effectiveness
It is learned that the company has no problem with regard to sponsoring IT
initiatives as Businesses in the company are totally based on the
investments made on IT projects that support the business goals.

We rated the level for partnership to be 4+

E. Scope and Architecture Maturity

30
This is a parameter that looks into how IT helps the company to grow and
compete and also whether it is only giving business support or is more
things.

• Traditional Enabler/Driver
In Svenska Resenatverket IT is both an enabler and driver of the Business
and the company.

• Standards Articulation Architectural Integration

Though the company doesn’t have well defined own standards and
architectural design to follow when implementing IT projects, they stick to
the already existing business and other international standards.

• Flexibility Managing Emerging Technology

According to the CEO of our case company, IT is more than a business
support in the sense that with out IT they can’t survive i.e. it is IT which helps
them grow, compete and profit. Therefore, there is a relative flexibility in
adopting and managing emerging technologies.

The maturity level for Scope and Architectural Maturity is 3-

F. Skills Maturity
The last issue to consider when measuring business IT alignment is skill
Maturity. It looks into Management style, readiness for change, etc.

• Management Style
The company follows a decentralized decision making approach and open
and transparent management style.

• Change Readiness
There is a good outlook for change but there is a sense of sticking to a
technology they have already knowledgeable of such as PHP. There is a lack

31
of readiness in the sense that their employees who are developing
applications for example are experts in one area and not in some tools such
as java.
• Social, Political Trusting Environment
There is a good social and trusting situations that exists among the
employees and the management where they share knowledge and
experiences freely.
The Skill maturity Level is 3+.

Lastly, there is a need to determine where the company lay in terms of

Business-IT alignment. From the aforementioned assessment of basic
measurement parameters and elements discussed as per the interview’s
response, Svenska Resenatverket is at the level of Established/Focused
Processes, which is level 3+. This means that the company is Moderate fit, or
the company is moderately effective according to [8].

4.3.3 Analysis of IT impact on business

operations and business strategies in Svenska
Resenatverket according to McFarlan
Svenska Resenatverket runs all IT projects in their company. They develop
websites in house mostly. Their critical product is http://flightradar24.com. If
IT fails, the site will go down and the company will suffer a huge loss. Again,
this site is an opportunity for advertisement. That will bring revenue for
them. They develop and use IT for marketing to compete in the market.
Success in existing product leads them to develop more websites. According
to McFarlan’s , if a company has IT project that influences the business and
reduce cost fall in factory. So Resenatverket has moved to factory quadrant.
Again, IT related decisions are also taken in board level meeting besides
daily meeting. Their products replace competitor’s one. They are pioneer in
travelling business in the market. So, their products have better strategy to

32
put barrier for competitors in the market. As they are ranked highly, they can
easily bargain with suppliers of various information and resources. In that
way IT has impact on strategy too. As a whole, Resenatverket actually is in
strategic quadrant.

Figure 4: Svenska Resenatvarket’s presence in McForlan’s

Strategic Grid

4.3.4 Analysis of IT Applications Critical for

Business Strategy in Svenska Resenatverket

As already mentioned in the company background section of this

report, Svenska Resenatverket is a company which basically provides service
for comparing different last minutes flights (www.charter.se) and the real
time information about the flight data (www.flightradar24.com). The
company is operating through the internet to provide services all over the
world. The company uses the following IT applications and services:
Web 2.0
Java

33
PHP
Prototype
Automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B)
The Web2.0 is the most critical application for the business strategy as
their strategy is to provide the customers all over the world flight data and
last minutes flight and now a day’s web 2.0 is the backbone of the internet
other than this Java, PHP, prototype and ADS-B are the application used for
developing the different programs so these are also the important
applications for the business.

The applications discussed above other than ADS-B are the basic
requirement for any business which want to be launched on the internet;
without these application they will not be able to sustain or carryon their
business. Svenska Resenatverket is the typical example of the company
which is using only these basic IT applications to develop programs and
websites and these program and websites are carrying their business goals
and through these program and websites they achieve their business goals
and objective and they are quite successful in that as per the CEO of the
company. The company is using in-house development mechanism which
allows them to save cost and the uniqueness. During the flight crises due to
volcano eruption in Iceland they got a highest numbers of visitors on their
sites and they worked 24/7 to make information available for the customers.
When a question about the company’s sustainability without IT is
asked the CEO simply answered that they can’t even think it. Our future is
linked with the IT.

34
Chapter Five

5. Conclusions and Recommendations

5.1 Conclusions

It is found that our case company, Svenska Resenatverket, has

recognized the role that IT is playing in their business to the extent that they
believe with out IT they can’t exist. IT is the driver of their business. The
company falls in the Strategic grid according to the MacForlan’s Strategic
Grid and is at Level 3+ according to Luftman’s IT Business Strategy. The
Critical application is flightradar24.com which is based on Web2.0, php,
prototype and ADS-V.

5.2 Recommendations

As IT is playing a critical role in these days every aspect of business,

companies like Svenska Resenatverket need to keep updating their IT
strategies to cope up with the dynamically changing technology. For this to
be met proper management of components such as Budget, human skill and
the technology should be enhanced so as to stay competitive in the
business.
35
6. References
[1]. Banny Batt, Rajesh Sreenivasan and Abhishek Singh “Issues for the
region ICT 4D in Asia pacific: an overview of emerging issues,” Digital
Review of Asian Pacific. [Online]. Available: http://www.digital-
review.org [Accessed April 15, 2010]

[2]. The Impact of IT on Organizations. [Online] available at:

http://www.skyrme.com/insights/5itorg.htm accessed April 15, 2010

[3] “Qualitative Research method” [Online) Available:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualitative_research. (Accessed April 15,
2010]

[4].“Qualitative Research Method”. [Online]. Available:

http://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/CDCynergy_training/Content/activeinformation
/toolscontent/qualitativemethods.htm. [April 15, 2010]

[5] “Triangulation (Social Science) “[Online]. Available:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangulation_(social_science) [accessed
April 15, 2010]
[6]. Luftman, Jerry. Assessing Business-IT Alignmnet Maturity IN
Communications of AIS, Volume 4, and Decmber 2000. [Online]. Available

36
 at: www.cioindex.com/nm/.../2779-IT%20Alignment%20Maturity
%20Model.pdf Accessed April 17, 2010

[7]. Azab, Nahed A. Investigating IT-Business Alignment in an Egyptian

Medium-Sized Enterprise (Case Study). [Online]. Available at:
www.iseing.org/emcis/EMCIS2005/pdfs/12.pdf Accessed April 17, 2010

[8]. Luftman, Jerry. Measure Your Business-IT Alignment: The longstanding

business-IT gap can be bridged with an assessment tool to rate your
efforts. [Online]. Availabe at: www.alternative.biz/.../Measure%20Your%20IT
%20%20Business_1.doc Accessed April 17, 2010.

[9]. Lubbe, Sam. “The Development of a Case Study Methodology in the

Information Technology (IT) Field: A Step by Step Approach” [online]
Available at: www.acm.org/ubiquity/views/v4i27_lubbe.pdf Accessed May
2, 2010

[10]. Baxter, Pamela and Jack, Susan (2008). “Qualitative Case Study
Methodology: Study Design and Implementation for Novice Researchers”
in The Qualitative Report Volume 13, Number 4 December 2008. PP.544-
559. [Online]. Available at: http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR13-
4/baxter.pdf accessed May 2, 2010

[11]. K. Hale, et al., “2Q03 Update: IT services Forecasts, 2002-2005,”

Gartner Group Research, July 2003
[12]. McForlan’s Strategic grid. Accessed from the course page:
http://vle.dsv.su.se/course/view.php?id=249
[13]. OPERATION MANAGEMENT VOLUM III [online]. Available at:
http://www.google.com/books?
hl=en&lr=&id=p6vuyWD8I30C&oi=fnd&pg=PA97&dq=information+technology
+in+business&ots=9C3lBIJaI4&sig=tD3J40rGnGTfobxh7Uxm0ekhTe0#v=onepa
ge&q=information%20technology%20in%20business&f=false. Accessed April
30, 2010.
37
[14]. Role of Information Technology in Growth of Business. [Online]. Available at:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Role-of-Information-Technology-in-Growth-of-
Business&id=344198. Accessed April 30, 2010.
[15]. Pearlson and Saunders. Managing and Using Information system: A
strategic Approach 2nd ed. (2009)

7. Appendices
7.1. Appindix A: Information about the Case Company
A. Name of the company: Svenska Resenatverket
Adress: Svenska Resenätverket AB. Kungsgatan 48. 111 35 Stockholm.
Website: http://www.resenatverket.se/
B. Information about the Interview
Date of the Interview:
Place of the Interview: Kungsgatan 48. 111 35 Stockholm.
Interviewees: Mickeal Robertson (CEO) and, Björn Höglind (IT Project
Manager)
Telephone: 08 - 558 015 00
Fax number: 08 - 558 015 01
Email: internetkonsult@gmail.com

7.2 Appendix B: The Questionnaire used for Interview

38
 A. For Business Manager or Chief executive Officer to assess
Business IT alignment
1. How well do the IT and business folks connect easily and understand
each other?
2. Does your company communicate effectively with consultants,
vendors, and partners? How?
3. Does it disseminate organizational learning internally?
4. How well does your company measure its own performance and the
value of its projects before and after the completion?
5. Do you improve your internal processes so the next project will be
better?
6. Do the projects you undertake flow from an understanding of the
business strategy? Do they support that strategy?
7. Do you think the business and IT departments have true partnerships
based on mutual trust and sharing risks and rewards?
8. Does the staff have the skills needed to be effective?
9. How well does the technical staff understand business drivers and
speak the language of business?
10. How well does the business staff understand relevant technology
concepts?

B. For Business Manager or Chief executive Officer to Assess

Impact of IT on Business and Strategy
1. Does IT play a vital role in your business or it’s an extra cost?
2. Do you need zero-defect of IT operation?
3. Do you take decision related to IT in your business meeting?
4. Do you think IT reduces your business cost? How much is your investment in
IT?
5. Do you have local business manager? Do they have control over your IT
systems?

39
 C. For Business Manager or Chief executive to Assess Role of
IT on Business and Organization Strategy
1. Who is responsible for It management in your organization
2. What are your criteria for choosing new technologies?
3. How you will define your company's It architecture?
4. Are you satisfy with your current IT structure
5. Is your company Architecture is global?
6. Your architecture and programmers are ready to adopt new changes?

D. For CEO and IT Project Manager to assess the critical IT

Application for Business Strategy
1. What are the key critical IT applications of the business and what is the
impact of those applications on your business and without them what sort of
an output you have?
2. Do you think that because of these IT applications you have a market
advantage?
3. How you can say that you are having the advantage?
4. What you think of your business without these IT application and
languages what impact it made on your business?
5. What approaches you use while purchasing or making these application
(cost or Quality)?

7.3 Appendix C: Transcription of the Interview (questions

and answers)
Interviewer 1:
Q1 who is responsible for It management in your organization
CEO: it me as CEO
Interviewer 1:
Q2. What are your criteria for choosing new technologies?
CEO: we are mostly working with PHP java script and some flash because
programners are working with these languages since a long time

40
Interviewer 1:
Q3 how you will define your company's It architecture?
CEO. We just talk before doing anything and this we think is enough because we
have logic that help us lot
Interviewer 1:
Q4 are you satisfy with your current IT structure
CEO: No actually we need PHP programmers and we are searching.
Interviewer 1:
Q5. Is your company Architecture is global?
CEO. Yes we are working two countries Sweden and In Britain.
Interviewer 1:
Q6 your architecture and programmers are ready to adopt new changes ?
CEO: yes we are ready for these changes
Interviewer 2:
Q 1. Does IT play a vital role in your business or it’s an extra cost?
CEO: No. It’s a necessary part of my company.
Interviewer 2:
Q2. Do you need zero-defect of IT operation?
CEO: Obviously. Without IT for few moments, the business will suffer a huge
loss.
Interviewer 2:
Q3: Do you take decision related to IT in your business meeting?
CEO: Yes, there is always a daily meeting. Critical decisions are taken in board
meeting. Everybody from business and IT is aware of the decision. IT and business
are related strongly in this company.
Interviewer 2:
Q4. Do you think IT reduces your business cost? How much is your investment in IT?
CEO: Yes, IT reduces business cost. In a gross amount, 60-70% of total investment
is in IT.
Interviewer 2:
Q5. Do you have local business manager? Do they have control over your IT
systems?
41
CEO: No, there is no other branch of the company, so no local business manager
for other branches. But there are developers from outside of the company. They are
aware of all the IT decisions.

Interviewer 3:
Q.1 how well does the IT and business folks connect easily and understand
each other?
CEO: I think we all work with IT and there is a good understanding.
Interviewer 3:
Q2. Does your company communicate effectively with consultants, vendors,
and partners? How?
CEO: Yes we do.
Interviewer 3:
Q3. Does it disseminate organizational learning internally?
CEO:Yes we are all working and make decisions together and we exchange
information daily.
Interview 3:
Q4. How well does your company measure its own performance and the
value of its projects before and after the completion?
CEO Many of our projects are in progress which has been running for three
years and we are still working on it. So it is not a finished project and is a
continuous work. So we can’t say we started it here and finished it there as
we are still working on.
Interview 3:
Q5. Do you improve your internal processes so the next project will be
better?
CEO
Interview 3: definitely yes
Q6. Do the projects you undertake flow from an understanding of the
business strategy? Do they support that strategy?
CEO: Yes, it is
Interview 3:
42
Q7. Do you think the business and IT departments have true partnerships
based on mutual trust and sharing risks and rewards?
CEO: Yes we do
Interview 3:
Q8. Does the staff have the skills needed to be effective?
CEO: yes, we have a very good understanding; everyone knows what to do,
and how to do as well
Interview 3:
Q9. How well does the technical staff understand business drivers and speak
the language of business?
CEO:
Interview 3:
Q10. How well does the business staff understand relevant technology
concepts?
CEO: the understanding is very good
Interviewer 1:
Q1. Who is responsible for It management in your organization
CEO: it me as CEO
Interviewer 1:
Q2 what are your criteria for choosing new technologies?
CEO: we are mostly working with PHP java script and some flash because
programmers are working with these languages since a long time
Interviewer 1:
Q3 how you will define your company's It architecture?
CEO: we just talk before doing anything and this we think is enough because we
have logic that help us lot
Interviewer 1:
Q4 are you satisfied with your current IT structure
CEO: No actually we need PHP programmers and we are searching.
Interviewer 1:
Q5 Is your company Architecture is global?

43
CEO: yes we are working in two countries: Sweden and In Britain.
Interviewer 1:
Q6 Is your architecture and programmers are ready to adopt new changes?
CEO: yes we are ready for these changes
Interviewer 1:
What are the key critical IT applications of the business and what is the
impact of those applications on your business and without them what
sort of an output you have? Impact of those IT applications on
business.
CEO:
We have the web applications which are developed in PHP and .Net
and we know only them and it is not possible for us to survive without
them.
Interviewer 1:
Now days there are many WebPages that you can easily draw in flash
or something like that?
CEO:
It’s not possible for us to use these new technologies for us because
our system required the PHP and .Net platform.
Interviewer 1:
Do you think that because of these IT applications you have a market
advantage?
CEO:
Yes we are getting the market advantage.
Interviewer 1:
How you can say that you are having the advantage?
CEO:
We have the better understanding of the how the web works, how the
Google works, search engine customization so I think the pages we
44
produce are better than the other companies. Our understanding is
better than the others.
Interviewer 1:
What you think of your business without these IT application and
languages what impact it made on your business?
CEO:
We cannot survive without these, PHP etc..
Interviewer 1:
What approaches you use while purchasing or making these
application (cost or Quality)?
CEO:
As we are three person and we basically working on the PHP so this is
our only choice and we have the quality in mind to provide the best
product to our customers.
Interviewer 1:
We are done. Thanks for your time

Email Interview Response from the IT Project Manager

----- Forwarded message ----------
From: björn höglind <bjorn.hoglind@gmail.com>
Date: 2010/5/3
Subject: Re: IT related question
45
To: Md Sajjadul Farooque Robin <technovicebd@gmail.com>

1. Who is responsible in the management of IT Strategies?

Shared respnsibility, or dependant on what it is referring to.
Different specialitys = different responsiblility.
2. What are your criteria for choosing the new
technologies?
Speed, effectiveness, ease of implementation/learningcurve.
3. What is the company’s IT architecture?
Expanding, simple,
4. What is your IT organizational structure?
Flat organization, (network-organization?)
5. Are you satisfying with the current IT organizational
structure in your organization serves the best? Can it be
improved, how?
i am satesfied, but it can and should be improved, especcialy if
growth of company is achieved
6. is your IT organizational structure global or it differs
from country to country?
Not appliable
7. Is your organizational structure flexible enough to adapt
the market and competitive changes? If yes, than how?
Yes it is, because it is small, hence flexible.

Robin

7.4 Appendix D: the Contribution of each Team members

Members of the
Parts of the Parject Group

46
 Sajjadul Robin

Umar Shah
Imran Ali

Yigezu Balcha
Jorro
Defining the Project Time table in line with the X X
course time table
Perparation of Pregress reports X X
Looking for Companies and arranging Interview X X
dates
Preparation of Background research X X X X

Literature review X X X X

Interview questionnaire X X X X

Interview X X X

Title page X

Summary X

Acknowledgments X

Table of contents X

Introduction X X

Defining Research methodology X X X X

Analysis, Transcription of Interview results X X X X

Conclusions X X

References X X X X
Appendices X X

Final Report Compilation and editings X X

Percentage contribution 25% 25% 25% 25%

47