Chapter 5 - ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES THAT SUPPORT STRATEGIC INITIATIVES

Information Technology or known well as IT is a must-to-learn as nowadays everything are using internet. Information technology is a relatively new functional area, having only been around formally for around 40 years.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Chief Information Officer (CTO)
• Oversees all uses IT and ensures the strategic alignment of IT with business goals and objectives.
• Broad CIO functions include:
• Manager - ensuring the delivery of all IT projects, on time and within budget.
• Leader - ensuring the strategic vision of IT is in line with the strategic vision of the organization.
• Communicator - building and maintaining strong executive relationships.

Average CIO compensation by industry

What concerns CIOs the most

• Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
• Responsible for ensuring the throughput, speed, accuracy, availability, and reliability of IT.

• Chief Security Officer (CSO)
• Responsible for ensuring the security of IT systems.

• Chief Privacy Officer (CPO)
• Responsible for ensuring the ethical and legal use of information.

• Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO)
• Responsible for collecting, maintaining, and distributing the organization's knowledge.

Skills pivotal for success in executive IT roles

•          Business personnel possess expertise in functional areas such as marketing, accounting, and sales 

•          IT personnel have the technological expertise 

•          This typically causes a communications gap between the business personnel and IT personnel

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Improving Communications

•          Business personnel must seek to increase their understanding of IT.

•          IT personnel must seek to increase their understanding of the business.

•          It is the responsibility of the CIO to ensure effective communication between business personnel and IT personnel.

Ethics & Security

•          Ethics and security are two fundamental building blocks that organizations must base their businesses on to be successful.

•          In recent years, such events as the Enron and Martha Stewart, along with 9/11 have shed new light on the meaning of ethics and security.

•        Ethics – the principles and standards that guide our behavior toward other people

•        Privacy – the right to be left alone when you want to be, to have control over your own personal possessions, and not to be observed without your consent

•        Issues affected by technology advances

–      Intellectual property

–      Copyright

–      Fair use doctrine

–      Pirated software

–      Counterfeit software

          Intellectual property - Intangible creative work that is embodied in physical form

          Copyright - The legal protection afforded an expression of an idea, such as a song, video game, and some types of proprietary documents

          Fair use doctrine - In certain situations, it is legal to use copyrighted material

          Pirated software - The unauthorized use, duplication, distribution, or sale of copyrighted software

          Counterfeit software - Software that is manufactured to look like the real thing and sold as such

•          One of the main ingredients in trust is privacy

Primary reasons privacy issues lost trust for e-business

•          Organizational information is intellectual capital - it must be protected

•          Information security – the protection of information from accidental or intentional misuse by persons inside or outside an organization

•          E-business automatically creates tremendous information security risks for organizations