MBA 5264
Fall 2022
Digital Organizations
Sagar Kulkarni
skulkarn@uottawa.ca
© Copyright. Umar Ruhi. 2022.
All Rights Reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
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Agenda
Course Administration:
q About Me
q About the Course
q Student Introductions
Information Systems Strategy:
q Definitions & Terminology
q IS & Business
q IT-Savvy Business Leaders
Case Discussion:
q CarMax: Driving What’s Possible
About Me
Since 2013, Adjunct Professor, Telfer School of Management
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Information Systems
Accounting
IT strategy
Leadership
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
About Me
Academic Background:
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Diploma In Electrical Engineering
Diploma in Business Management
MDBA
Graduate Diploma in Materiel Management
MBA = UQAM
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Oracle Certified Professional
Certified in Production and Inventory Management
Chartered Professional Accountant
Certified Management Accountant
ITIL Certified
Change Management certification from PROSCI
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
About Me
Job Titles:
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Electrical Engineer – Chemical company
Operational Manager - Manufacturing
Software programmer/Analyst
Business Analyst/ Sr. Analyst
IT Consultant
Manager, Finance/ Financial Systems
Sr. Manager Finance
Director, Service Transformation
Director, Materiel Management
Director, Internal Controls
Director, Financial Strategies
Adjunct Professor
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
About the Course: Subject Matter Overview
MBA 5264: Digital Organizations
q Information Systems Perspective:
§ Role of IT as a supporter of effective business operations
§ Role of IT as a driver for new business opportunities.
§ This course presents a business value perspective of IS, and introduces the
audience to a broad range of relevant business models, strategy concepts, technical
vocabulary, exemplar applications, and analysis frameworks. The objective of this
course is to understand the dynamic effect of ICTs on organizational
development, and to deliberate best practices for the strategic integration of
technology in business operations. Towards this end, the course will utilize a
combination of case analysis sessions and seminar style discussions to explore
socio-technical critical success factors underlying effective IS strategy formulation and
successful digital transformation initiatives..
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
About the Course: Subject Matter Overview
What This Course Is and Is Not:
q Not an IT-Strategy-in-a-Box Course
q Not intended for IT managers, nor intended to make you one.
q Course designed for mid-level functional managers.
q Aims to connect IT strategy to core business functions including
Marketing, Operations, HR, and Finance.
q Reviews traditional technology management frameworks and foundational
strategies.
q Explores current technology trends and guidelines for management.
I will try to keep the course jargon-free, acronym-light, and industryagnostic.
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
Course Administration
Class Convention:
q Format:
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Initial Q&A Session or Warm-Up Discussion or Debriefing: 15 Minutes
Lecture Component: 75 Minutes
Short Break: 10 – 15 Minutes
Additional Discussion & Class Activities: 60 Minutes
Contact Information:
– Email: skulkarn@uottawa.ca
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
Student Introductions
Any Volunteers?
Quick Introductions:
q Name
q Background – Professional / Academic
q Experience with / Perceptions about Corporate IT
q Anything Specific You’d Like to Explore or Learn in this Course
§ Personal Learning Objectives.
§ You will need to reflect on these for your first deliverable (memo) due next week.
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
High-Level Overview of Information Systems
Preliminary Discussion:
q What is an Information System (IS)?
§ Difference between IS and IT
§ Types of IS
q Information Systems & Business
q IT-Savvy Business Leaders
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
High-Level Overview of Information Systems
What is an Information System?
q Purpose: To provide accurate, timely and useful information
§ Each element must be present and all of the elements must work together
q An Information System consists of FIVE PARTS, including:
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People,
Procedures,
Software,
Hardware, and
Data
q Information system (IS) = IT plus procedures, and people that produce &
utilize information.
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IT = hardware + software + data
Products
Methods
Inventions
Standards
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
High-Level Overview of Information Systems
Avoid a common mistake:
q Do not try to buy an IS; you cannot do it.
You can buy IT:
q Buy or lease hardware, license programs and databases, even obtain
predesigned procedures. Ultimately, people execute those procedures to
employ that new IT.
Any new system requires training tasks, overcoming employees’
resistance to change, and managing employees as they utilize new
system.
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
Information Systems Elements
Actors
Instructions
Bridge
Hardware
Software
ICTs
Data /
Information
Procedures
Humans
Automation Initiatives
Industry / Tech Evolution
Increasing Degree of Difficulty of Change
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
People
High-Level Overview of Information Systems
Information Systems aid Organizational Performance:
q Productivity Improvement
q Enhanced Decision-Making
q Business Process Transformation
q Competitive Advantage
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
Varying IS Needs within the Organization
Source: Turban et al. (2015)
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
Varying IS Needs within the Organization
The various types of systems in the organization have
interdependencies.
§ TPS are major producers of information that is required by many other systems in the
firm, which, in turn, produce information for other systems.
§ These different types of systems are loosely coupled in most business firms, but
increasingly firms are using new technologies to integrate information that resides in
many different systems.
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
Types of Information Systems
Source: Rainer et al. (2013)
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
IT Portfolio: Overview
Three “classes” of IT assets
ΠApplications
Operational
 Infrastructure
Ž Data
Strategic
Digital plumbing
Data management Support
Source: Tiwana (2017)
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
IT Portfolio: IT Infrastructure
Firmwide technology foundation common to entire firm
q Substrate that knits together various applications
q Digital plumbing* that moves data and stores data
q The most visible parts (hardware and networks) = commodities
Demands technical skills and holistic knowledge of firmwide IT
Question:
q Can this be a source of sustainable competitive advantage?
*Just as a traditional home plumbing system improves water flow through pipes, a digital plumbing
system connects all the apps that organizations use to run their businesses in order to
automate and enhance the flow of information between them. This can help you gather crucial
information for your clients about their customers, including yearly churn rates, net profits, and
more, without having to collect information from each application separately. With this seamless
flow of data, you’ll be able to get a bird’s-eye view of your client’s business performance.
(zoho.com)
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
IT Portfolio: IT Apps
Software programs that various line functions use to do their work
§ Purchased or custom-developed
20% of corporate IT budget but ~ 100% of strategic oomph if:
§ Uniquely tailored to individual line functions priorities
§ Need know-how of line functions’ activities, business processes, and problems
Types of Apps:
q Operational – support core business processes and transactions.
q Strategic – create a competitive advantage by doing something valuable
that your archrivals cannot do.
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
IT Portfolio: Data
IT’s raison-d’être
q Infrastructure is its conduit
q Apps are what scrub it into business insight
Collected by TPS and enhanced by MIS, ERP, DSS etc.
q Increasingly collected and consumed by connected machines
Proprietary data (collected yourself)
q Most potent for constructing competitive barriers
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
IT Portfolio: Strategic Importance of IT
IT Portfolio Perspective:
q Infrastructure that provides support for effective business operations
(Commodity)
q IT as a driver for new business opportunities (Differentiation & Innovation)
IT Does Matter!
q Ref. Nicholas Carr’s 2003 Provocatively Titled HBR Article: “IT Doesn’t
Matter”
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
Information Systems & Business
Why does the Technology Work?
• Technology-Focused
• Theory Oriented
What Technology Would
Work Best?
• Business-Focused
• Application Oriented
• Cross-Functional
How Does the Technology Work?
• Deployment-Focused
• Use Oriented
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
Information Systems & Business
“Information technology and business are becoming
inextricably interwoven. I don't think anybody can talk
meaningfully about one without the talking about the
other.
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Bill Gates
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
So… Once More…
Information Systems > Technology
Technology Ì Information Systems
q Using information systems effectively requires an understanding of the
organization, management, and information technology shaping the systems.
q An information system creates value for the firm as an organizational and
management solution to challenges posed by the environment.
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
IT-Savvy Business Leaders
Mindset:
q Have a vision for leveraging IT for value creation
q Engage in strategic IT decisions
q Construct partnerships between business and IT
Capability:
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Basic understanding of a broad classes of technologies
Knowledge of evolution of technologies
Knowledge of how systems function to support business processes
Ability to scan the environment for new technologies and appreciate
business implications
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
Discussion Questions
IT-Use does not equate to IT-Savvy!
q What’s the Difference?
q Are Digital Natives more IT-Savvy than Digital Immigrants?
q What are the Attributes / Dimensions of IT-Savvy?
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
IT-Savvy Business Leaders
IT-Savvy & Digital Agency:
Source: The digital-ready worker: Digital agency and the pursuit of productivity. Deloitte Review (October 2019).
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
IT-Savvy Business Leaders
Fostering Technology-based Innovation Competencies:
q Discovery:
§ creation, recognition, elaboration, and articulation of opportunities afforded by
strategic use of IT.
q Incubation:
§ experimentation, technical, as well as for market learning, market creation, and
matching the technology innovation with company strategy.
q Acceleration:
§ exploiting the technology, investing to build new business and infrastructure,
responding to market opportunities.
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
IT-Savvy Business Leaders
IT Strategy as a Conversation:
q IT strategy = human activity ¹ technical
q IT unit must first understand your goals to help accomplish them
§ Conversation requires shared language, empathy
#1 reason IT disappoints:
q Absence of this conversation
Business Speak:
• Inventory Turnover
• Gross Margin on
Inventory
• Employee Engagement
• Promotion Reach
Tech Speak:
• RESTful
• APIs
• SDNs
• HTML5
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
Case Discussion: CarMax
Summary:
q Company Background
q Main Themes & Ideas
q Key Events or Undertakings
q Points to Ponder
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
Case Discussion
Business Model:
q There are several “disruptive” technologies on the
horizon. How might these technologies impact
CarMax’s business model?
q How Can or Should CarMax respond to the
competitive and disruptive threats it is facing?
Organizational Development:
What Analysis
Frameworks
would you use in
analyzing this
case?
q What is the Culture Shift at CarMax?
§ What are they doing differently now, and what are the
potential benefits?
How should CarMax move forward in coming
years?
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
Case Discussion: CarMax
What is DevOps?
q a philosophy and practice focused on agility, collaboration, and automation within
IT and development team processes.
q goal is to bridge the gap between IT operations and development to improve
communication and collaboration, create more seamless processes, and align
strategy and objectives for faster and more efficient delivery.
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
Case Discussion: CarMax
What is User Experience?
Source:
Hartson, R., & Pyla, P. S. (2018). The UX book: Agile UX design for a quality user experience. Morgan
Kaufmann.
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi
Case Discussion: CarMax
What is User Experience?
MBA 5270 – Strategic Information Systems Management – Umar Ruhi