NIT2171 ICT Management: ICT Strategic Plan for Clothes Retail Chain

This report details an ICT strategic plan designed for a large clothes retail chain facing challenges with manual inventory tracking, theft, and the shift to online retail. The plan outlines the organization's mission, vision, and objectives, along with key drivers for change, including strategic, stakeholder, and technological factors. It identifies three core ICT strategic themes: core infrastructure, digital customer services, and data management, along with their relevant ICT capabilities. The report also proposes a roadmap for ICT initiatives, covering aspects such as IT governance, and aims to position the retail chain for future growth while ensuring security and addressing customer needs. The assignment, created by a student, is a comprehensive analysis of how ICT can be strategically leveraged to improve business operations and competitiveness within the retail sector.

INTRODUCTION TO ICT TECHNOLOGIES
IT Strategy
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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INTRODUCTION TO ICT TECHNOLOGIES
Executive summary
A strategy plan is referred to as an activity of organizational management which is used for
setting up of the priorities, strengthen various operations, focusing resources as well as energy
and ensuring that both the stakeholders as well as the employees of the companies work together
towards the accomplishment of the common goals thereby establishing the around the expected
outcomes etc. An ICT strategic plan has been designed for positioning the future growth of
online cloth retail chain. The drivers for change, roadmap and ICT strategic frames along with
the capabilities of ICT has been mentioned.

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INTRODUCTION TO ICT TECHNOLOGIES
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Background..................................................................................................................................3
Organization Mission...................................................................................................................4
Organization Vision.....................................................................................................................4
Drivers for change.......................................................................................................................4
Three ICT technologies and relevant ICT capabilities................................................................8
Roadmap and ICT initiative.........................................................................................................9
IT Governance...........................................................................................................................10
Bibliography..................................................................................................................................11

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INTRODUCTION TO ICT TECHNOLOGIES
Introduction
A strategy plan is referred to as an activity of organizational management which is used
for setting up of the priorities, strengthen various operations, focusing resources as well as
energy and ensuring that both the stakeholders as well as the employees of the companies work
together towards the accomplishment of the common goals thereby establishing the around the
expected outcomes etc. (Aziz et al. 2016). A strategy plan is essential and is a must for each and
every organization. The case here is a solution is being searched by a huge clothes retail chain
for countering several problems that are being faced by them (Birudavolu et al. 2019). Presently,
a manual tracking system for inventory management is there with the retailers along with a major
part missing due to occurrence of any theft. This report focuses on designing an ICT strategy
plan having various features related to planning, innovation and implementing a good
organization by 2025. Along with this the, the report also focuses on the positioning of the
clothing retail chain for nurturing its growth in future and at the same time looking after its
security over the next 5 years on the various IT aspects.
Background
The clothing retail chain was running smoothly with a manual tracking inventory system
until when a specific part of the information is found incorrect as well as missing either due to
the movement of information between the stores and the warehouses or it can occur due to the
various thefts taking place in the stores which are caused by the activities of the customers
(Burgess et al. 2015). In the recent years, the clothes retail chain too has witnessed its shift
towards online retailing and various other developments for maximizing their reputation as well
as production. The retail chain like these are looking for gaining more insights regarding the

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pattern transformation in sales ranging from the customers individually to the target marketing
(Byungura et al. 2106). Various kinds of better options are searched for addressing these
situation like tablet devices owned by the organization so that the staffs could utilize it for
checking inventories along with the prices offered by the competitors of this particular
organization.
Organization Mission
The mission of the organization is to establish solutions for several problems faced by the
organization like manual inventory tracking system which results in the misplacement of the
information due to the movement of information between the stores and the warehouses.
Organization Vision
The vision of the clothes retail chain is to design an ICT strategy for positioning the
future growth of the organization and at the same time maintaining its security over the span of
next five years with certain critical IT matter like data management infrastructure etc.
Organization Objective
The main objective of the mentioned organization that is the clothing retail chain is to
develop as well as construct a strategic plan related to ICT for the clothing retail chain and for
deciding the important aspects of the various strategies of ICT from the year 2020 to the year
2025 i.e. for a span of five years along with the sustainability of the company.
Drivers for change
The three drivers for change are mentioned as follows:

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Strategic drivers
Various challenges have been faced by the clothes retail chain in the recent times for
maintain their inventory tracking system that can be operated manually which results in the
misplacement of the various essential information related to their inventory system record. These
kinds of challenges affects the abilities as well as competitiveness of the clothes retail chain
(Dunn et al. 2016). The existing services of the retail chain like the inventory tracking system in
manual in nature and which needs to be automated. There has been an online shift in the clothes
retail chain that needs to be looked after (Frannson et al. 2017). The productivity as well as the
prices offered by the competitors of the clothes retail chain needs to be monitored accordingly so
that factors like this does not harm the capabilities as well as the competitiveness of the clothes
retail store.
The financial analysis should be done for establishing a healthy productivity as well as
competitiveness along with automated inventory tracking system for the clothes retail chain that
will help in ensuring the growth of the clothes retail chain in future and at the same time not
compromising its security in the next five years (Ramadani et al. 2017). Since, the clothes retail
chain has witnessed an online shift, the most important thing is to focus on various IT matters
which are critical like the Infrastructure in the form of Infrastructure as a structure.
The data management of the clothes retail chain should also be kept a watch upon. The
mobile device management as well as the governance should also be focused on (Lago et al.
2015). For any online clothes retail chain, the customer relationship management is very
important as the retail chain should work for reaching the expectations of the customers and

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satisfying the customers (Hanseth et al. 2015). The risks related to the security as well as the
privacy of online clothes retail chain should also be maintained on a regular basis to check the
vulnerability of the online clothes retail chain as to how it can be open to various threats and
attacks.
The above mentioned factors requires ICT regarding their services for meeting the need
of their customers like making the method of communication easy for the customers if the
customers wants to directly interact with the clothes retail chain and for constructing common
platforms of ICT (Hatlevik 2017). The need for incrementing the efficiency is the establishment
of the automated inventory tracking system that could be utilized by the staffs to keep track of
the inventories so that no information regarding the inventory gets misplaced and the technical
resources could be deployed in an efficient manner.
These strategies that needs to be prioritized and enabled by the technologies. The
strategic drivers are responsible for the promoting the focus of the online clothes retail chain
(Heeks et al. 2015). The strategic plan is supported by the financial plans. The delivery of the
strategic plans are supported by ICT like secured services, promotion of the retail chain and
delivery of the services etc.
Stakeholder drivers
These are the drivers from partners, services, customers, end users etc. The stakeholder
driver is one of the drivers for change. It helps in providing a workforce that is mobile with the
help of IT for delivering efficient productivity which requires various solutions of technology
(Johnson 2016). With the increment of IT technology, the staff can utilize the automated
inventory tracking system with no misplacement of the information due to the movement of

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information between the warehouses and stores or the due to any of the thefts caused by the
customers.
Increment as well rise in the demands and the expectations of the customers takes place
due to the personalized user journeys that are based on the web and because of the improvement
in the methods in which the various services can be accessed by the end users and the customers
through various number of channels with the utilization of different kinds of devices.
The increment in the utilization of IT for streamlining, enabling as well as automating the
services which in turn supports the workforce and reduction in the delivery charges of the
various services ordered by the customers (Mensah et al. 2015). The security of the online
clothes retail chain should be maintained and authorization should not be given to everyone so
that the security of the online clothes retail chain should not be exploited.
Increment of the shared services results in an effective delivery of all the services which
results in growth of the online clothes retail store. Increased amount of reliability is provided on
the availability of the systems of ICT by all the providers of service for the execution of the plans
related with that particular business (Pradhan et al. 2017). The stakeholders of the online clothes
retail store should try to maintain a healthy partnership, collaboration as well as integration with
the various other organizations of the public sector.
Technological drivers
The technological drivers are the key drivers which is much needed for efficient services
of ICT. The establishment of automated inventory tracking systems are very important for
keeping the information intact without misplacing of the information. The developments in the
mobile technology like the applications based on web and tablet devices plays a role is

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expanding the online clothes retail chain (Reyes et al. 2107). The technological drivers help in
merging both leveraging and the utilization of the profits from the applications and platforms that
are already existing.
The technology enables the continuous up gradation of the databases, applications,
network etc. of the online clothes retail chain so that it would be easier for its end customers and
consumers. Due to this, the delivery charges of the operations gets reduced. Various kinds of
technologies are supported by the online clothes retail store for ensuring the compliance of the
protocols related with the data as well as information security.
Three ICT technologies and relevant ICT capabilities
The three ICT strategic themes along with their respective ICT capabilities which are mentioned
as follows:
ICT strategic theme 1: Core infrastructure of ICT
The facilities of the ICT services is very important for the services of the online clothes
retail chain. The reliability as well as the quality of the infrastructure of ICT will help in
enhancing the services of the online clothes retail chain. Here, a supportive role is played by the
technology for updating as well as the delivery of the services. Certain corporate infrastructures
like data networks, voice, emails, personal computers as well as servers is involved in ICT. A
stable and dependable infrastructure of technology is required by the higher level facilities (Sajid
et al. 2018). High capacity levels are required for transforming the demands related with services
and organization for future growth.

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The relevant IT capabilities are effective continuity of business and arrangements of
disaster recovery. It is also includes facilities of infrastructure that are robust and efficient in
nature that helps in supporting the delivery of the services. It consists of the provision of
accessing the infrastructure which is successful in meeting the needs of the business for the
delivery teams offering services along with providing ICT services that are cost efficient and
effective. This can be achieved by the core infrastructure as well as the desktop applications.
ICT Strategic Theme 2: Digital customer services
Simple processes for accessing the online services helps the customers for engaging at a
low cost with the online clothes retail chain and it is identified that the final profits are specific
for both the customers and the clothes retail chain. The process of the delivery of the services are
checked for accessing the savings.
The relevant IT capabilities are access channels are provided which are inclusive on the basis of
efficient deliveries. Under this, the customers are allowed to pay as well as apply for the essential
services through any device on the basis of the services that are based on the web (Suryawanshi
et al. 2015). The automatic tracking of the progress is available with the consumers for avoiding
the chasing of the personnel for any kind of information which can be achieved by online
transactional implementation.
ICT Strategic Theme 3: Information Management
The retail chain is dependent on various resources for providing various services to the
customers. Management of information is essential for decision making. It aims for improvement
of the processes that are involved in managing the information (Vukanovic et al. 2019). This

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results in effective exchange of information among the partners of the retail chain achieved by
developing policies for information management.

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Roadmap and ICT initiative
Phase 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Strategy Strategic
planning
Group
Forming
Usability Template
design
Migration
Of
Existing files
Process and
management
Website
creation
Adding more
options
Collaboration Team
development
Team
workshops
Communication Discussion
boards
Competit
or chain
Technology Storage
capacity
upgrade
Recover
disaster
IT Governance
The IT governance is utilized for assuring the investments in the business values
generated by the utilization of IT in the online clothes retail chain and for mitigating the risks
which are directly associated with IT. A certain framework or structure is needed by all the
businesses and the organizations for ensuring the functioning of the IT is successful in sustaining
the various objectives and the strategies of the organization (Yim 2016). It helps in achieving the