Management Information Systems Important Competitive Elements

Seeking to stretch their budgets in a tough economic environment, IT managers are subjecting every technology purchase to rigorous scrutiny and looking for every opportunity to reduce total cost of ownership (TCO).

Given this mandate, how important is it for an enterprise to keep up with version changes in desktop operating systems? If most employees of a large company are using Windows 2000 or Windows 7, for example, would you recommend upgrading everyone to Window 8.1? Why? Why not? Would you answer differently for a small business as opposed to a large one?

Question 2

In this module we have a couple of learning objectives. We want to understand better the role of the IT manager in the strategic management process as well as the skills needed to manage expectations for IT strategy.
Think about the following: Governors in some states may be moving away from centralizing information technology functions, which can endanger the integrity of IT investments, according to the National Governors Association (NGA) in the summer of 2005. Several current and former CIOs interviewed said states are no longer using consolidated IT management strategies. For example, Connecticut announced it will scrub a previous administration's plan to centralize IT operation under the state's technology department.
Are the CIO's managing the Governors' expectations?
What is your take on centralizing or consolidating IT functions for entities as large as a state government?
What are the advantages or disadvantages?
Would your answer be different for smaller enterprises?

Question 3

IT strategic management policies and procedures are meant to ensure that critical systems stay current, reliable, secure, and that they perform as needed. But, oh, if it were only that simple. Within the large corporate enterprise, the road to structured IT management is littered with challenges and roadblocks.
Organizations are increasingly dependent upon IT to sustain and improve the business. To meet these objectives, it is critical that IT delivers operational excellence by simultaneously demonstrating added value.
Has the organization in which you work experienced challenges or roadblocks to the goal of maintaining critical systems? Why or why not? Are the issues usually economic, political, and security-relate

Question 4
As IT systems become an important competitive element in many industries, technology projects are getting larger, touching more parts of the organization, and posing a risk to the company if something goes wrong. Please discuss following questions.
IT projects are What is the relationship between the systems development process and IT project management? How do managers fit into the systems development and project management processes? Be sure to note any assumptions that you are making in your responses.