IT Strategic Planning Approaches

Strategic IT
Management- project 2

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Issued faced by OACA in implementation of Outsourcing....................................................1
Ways in which outsourcing alters IT management approach to IT planning.........................2
Critique of an IT plan.............................................................................................................3
IT Strategic Planning approach..............................................................................................3
Issues that might impact.........................................................................................................4
Outsourcing within IT strategic planning...............................................................................5
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Over the last decade, the concept of outsourcing has become increasingly popular among
every organisation as it help them to improve its proficiency and productivity ratio in a better
way at global pace. However, outsourcing refers to a process or procedure in which a company
hires or takeover another firm and handle entire operation function as a third party for an
accomplishment of business goal or objective in a better manner (Handley, 2012). It provide
enormous range of benefits to IT sector like increase efficiency, enhance flexibility, accelerated
time to market, access to innovation or modernization that enrich firm's profit margin in an
innovative and creative style. This report is based on Open Alliance for Cloud Adoption
(OACA) who enables innovative, safe as well as agile utilisation of cloud computing for firms.
They outsource cloud services to their clients and they pay as per the services opted by them.
This report involves impact of outsourcing over IT industry and its benefits on companies in
acquiring best position within marketplace. Moreover, development of IT plan and structure and
its how it is influenced by technology or approach is also discussed here.
Issued faced by OACA in implementation of Outsourcing
Outsourcing denotes business practices in which services are delivered to third party.
Within information technology, outsourcing initiative technology providers comprises of wide
range of operations which varies from IT functions to the discrete like network services, QA
testing, disaster recovery or software development (Lahiri, Kedia and Mukherjee, 2012). OACA
is member-led consortium which is dedicated to render inter-operable services as well as
solutions for furnishing cloud computing to enterprises around the globe. But while carrying out
process of outsourcing certain challenges are faced by them. They are specified below:
 Jeopardy of IPR: Intellectual property rights of outsourcing organization can be
compromised if employee or technology partner breaches the information. This is an
illegal practice and can adversely affect performance of the organization. For an instance,
OACA is providing cloud solution to their clients worldwide, if any of the client's data
stored on cloud is accessed by their (OACA's) employees and is misused then might
impact their sales or strategies formulated by them.
 Lack of Monitoring: OACA makes use of their own employees as well as infrastructure
for benefiting outsourcing partners. This will become critical for clients to track and
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monitor ongoing assignments, activities and resources. For an instance, OACA (is liable
for maintaining management as well as operational roles of cloud resources), if all the
employees will have access to those resources then their will be higher probability to
know what they are deigning and what it will look like when it is completed. This
denotes that there is higher probability to security breach (Liu and Wang, 2014). But with
respect to this, OACA can ensure that what kind of access must be given whom.
 Security: In case of cloud computing services, they share their services along with
resources among their tenants. This will assist them within saving cost which will make
IT scalable. It do not denote that other firms will be making use of same devices or
servers. This implies that there are security concerns which must be acknowledged if
OACA has strict conformity with needs.
CIO will carry out an agreement with clients. IT governance will look for the important
details required for providing services. IT security policies are developed to make sure that
security is not vulnerable. This leads OACA to deliver their services as per required standards.
Ways in which outsourcing alters IT management approach to IT planning
The process in which resources associated with information technology are handled as
per priorities and requirements of firm is referred to as information technology management. It
ensures that all the resources that are with technology are utilized in an appropriate manner by
which business communication and processes can be enhanced. To understand this an example
can be taken, if adobe have opted for services from OACA and suppose they have taken 70TB
space as well as paying for the same. But in case they are making use of 62TB space then it will
be the wastage of space as well as cost involved with this. The reason for this is that, in cloud the
services can be taken as per the requirements and payments are made accordingly. This denotes
that having an extra space is not required and also implies that there has to be appropriate IT
management approaches which denotes that appropriate planning must be carried out with repect
to this.
IT planning denotes a document which will define strategies of business to enable their
information technology infrastructure as well as portfolio for operating as well as functioning
with respect to business objective (Mazzola and Perrone, 2013). For an instance, OACA has
collaborated with LF for bringing Enterprise IT as well as Solution Providers to a no-sales-please
environment. They aims at identification of information technology needs for firms for cloud
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adoption and development of frameworks along with usage guides which will be reflecting
improvised practices for assisting firms for integration of cloud services. This plan assist them to
outsource their reviews with respect to utilization of public, hybrid and private cloud & deliver
their services to clients in an impelling manner through which they can attain their goals.
Critique of an IT plan
Structure planning refers to a tool that is being utilized for management of effects along
with demands for development. This acts as an effectual way for attaining as well as managing
resources. This component integrate business goals and IT infrastructure with an intent of
streamlining the firm's workflow by optimizing IT process in order to attain increased level of
productivity by saving money in operational costs.
An example can be taken to understand the concept of outsourcing. Zespri International
Limited is largest marketer within New Zealand for Kiwifruit in different varieties, they are
green, sungold and organic. They have opted for making use of cloud computing as they provide
their services in around 50 countries as well as include 30% of global volume. This means that
they need to have effective systems which can store data for them like what amount has to be
delivered to which country or client as manual processing is not an effective option.
As the process of transactions cannot be done through traditional ways CIO of Zespri can
opt for the services that are being provided by OACA. It is not feasible to store lots of data
within the server of firms and there are high security concerns also. For this they have opted for
making use of outsourcing. It denotes that third party will be providing them an option to store,
process and access the information whenever they need it. OACA is an outsourcing firm which
provides their clients with cloud services.
There are wide range of firms present within the New Zealand to opt for outsourcing as
will lead them to have cost effective solution like they need not buy their servers, software's for
securing them or any other resources for their management. Its just through the outsourcing they
will be able to have services which they require. Zespri has opted for outsourcing by which their
employees can carry out their operations as per the requirements.
CIO (Chief Information Officer) of OACA is responsible for having an agreement with
their clients so that any kind of problems do not occur in future while delivery of services. IT
governance is liable to have all the crucial details form their clients so that services can provided
to them with respect to that. This will lead them to deliver appropriate as well as on time
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services. IT security policies will assist both OACA & their clients to maintain the
confidentiality as well as authenticity of information so that data breach do not occur with
respect to the future aspects. This will lead OACA to deliver effective services and develop
impelling relation with their clients.
IT Strategic Planning approach
OACA can be considered as an outsourcing firm who provides their clients with services
associated with cloud computing. For this, it is necessary that they have formulated a specific IT
strategic plan which will assist them in delivering their services. Cloud is liable for providing
their customers with Platform as a Service, Infrastructure as a Service, Software as a Service and
a storage space. This implies that strategies must be formulated in such a way that all the
requirements can be accomplished without any kind of disputes. While providing their OACA
needs to ensure that quality must be ensured while delivering the services. Suppose if they are
providing their clients with storage space then they need to make sure that server is never down
and information required by them can be accessed whenever they are opting for this as well as
can save the information as per their convenience.
(Source: Is there still value in developing an IT strategic plan?, 2019)
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Illustration 1: OACA Strategic Plan

OACA has opted to make use of Hybrid IT which utilizes the internal IT systems which
are being merged with cloud environments.
(Source: Who is responsible for a Service in a Hybrid IT Operating Model?, 2019)
This model comprises of 5 features which are being provided by OACA and are utilised
while delivery of their services. For an instance hybrid infrastructure is identical to the IaaS in
which infra is provided as a service so that firms like Zespri can utilize it as per their requirement
but they need to pay for the services that are being delivered to them. Hybrid DevOops is alike
SaaS in which platform is provided where applications or software can be developed by the firm
by making use of their software.
In addition to this, security must be the topmost priority for an instance if any employee
or anyone mails them that they are employee of OACA and have forgot their credentials then
they need to ensure that they do not provide any information to anyone until they are authorized
as well as have the details related with this from management for ensuring access must be given
to whom. This illustrates a strategic approach which comprises all the aspects which can lead to
hamper their performance.
Issues that might impact
Management of OACA always ensures that a prior agreement takes place in between
them and their client. It will include all the details related with what they are looking for as well
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Illustration 2: OACA Hybrid IT operating Model

as what their client has opted. Basically, it involve all the crucial details related with services
they are outsourcing. But still then some issues can arise like security aspects, cost associated,
etc. Here, cost can be fixed while having an agreement but if client needs to shrink their space
then price associated with this may not vary as per their expectations and might lead to conflicts
in between them. At present scenario, people are more gadget freak and tries to enter into the
systems of other to have details about them for this they try to hack or make use of any illegal
method. In case, such kind activity take place within OACA then it would be like a worst option
for firm to go for outsourcing. This will impact performance as well as reputation of the firm.
From above, it has been observed that strategic planning will assist OACA in rendering
their services as per the anticipated standards along with having an emphasis on Green cloud
computing which will manage the energy efficiency. In addition to this, requirements of their
customers will also be fulfilled. The specified plan is aligned as firms like Zespri are making use
of outsourcing from OACA to have an effective services and eliminate the extra cost associated
with processing of each. This is evident from the hybrid model that has been utilized. Like
Hybrid service management will ensure that their client gets the services whenever they request
for it, means they are liable for making it accessible whenever it is required by their clients.
CONCLUSION
From above it can be concluded that, through the utilization of outsourcing organization
can ensure that they have optimized usage of services. As OACA is a cloud provider they need to
ensure that they meet the needs of their customer. The customers have to pay as per the services
they are opting for. This denotes that while carrying out outsourcing a proper agreement should
be made for illustrating all the requirements. This will enable them within flexibility as well as
scalability.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Handley, S. M. (2012). The perilous effects of capability loss on outsourcing management and
performance. Journal of Operations Management, 30(1-2), 152-165.
Lahiri, S., Kedia, B. L., & Mukherjee, D. (2012). The impact of management capability on the
resource–performance linkage: Examining Indian outsourcing providers. Journal of
World Business, 47(1), 145-155.
Liu, S., & Wang, L. (2014). Understanding the impact of risks on performance in internal and
outsourced information technology projects: The role of strategic
importance. International Journal of Project Management, 32(8), 1494-1510.
Mazzola, E., & Perrone, G. (2013). A strategic needs perspective on operations outsourcing and
other inter-firm relationships. International Journal of Production Economics, 144(1),
256-267.
Mukherjee, D., Gaur, A. S., & Datta, A. (2013). Creating value through offshore outsourcing:
An integrative framework. Journal of International Management, 19(4), 377-389.
Rothaermel, F. T. (2013). Strategic management: concepts. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Schniederjans, M. J., Schniederjans, A. M., & Schniederjans, D. G. (2015). Outsourcing and
insourcing in an international context. Routledge.
Online
Who is responsible for a Service in a Hybrid IT Operating Model?. 2019. [Online]. Available
through: <https://www.oaca-project.org/2018/11/29/who-is-responsible-for-a-service-
in-a-hybrid-it-operating-model/>.
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