FREE ESSAY ON IT - COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

IT - COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

Staying Ahead of the Competition
In today's society organizations are forced to be competitive, it is becoming imperative
that companies be equipped to integrate and assimilate information technology in ways
that would encourage such competitiveness. With increasing competition organizations need
to strive to increase the value of money and reduce costs. Now and in the future IT
expenses, given its increasing roles, will assure greater significance. Thereof, it is
critical that Information Systems are used effectively to increase production and stay
ahead of the competition. 
The ability to predict future trends in the environment, in terms of technological
changes, market characteristics, and in the competition, etc… is crucial to an
organizations future growth and success. Improving and facilitating communications with
customers and suppliers also helps a company to manage the competition. . In order to do
this, an organization must move towards business network designs. This form of technology
is one of the most important functions of Information Systems, because it brings a
company's customers and suppliers under an information umbrella, through what are
referred to as Strategic Information Systems. For instance, the creation of an electronic
linkage between the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and tax preparation organizations. The
linkage was created to enable the electronic filing of individual income tax returns,
prepared by those firms. Scott Morton summarizes it best, in his book The Corporation of
the 1990's by saying, "It is merely an enabler that offers an organization the
opportunity to vigorously invest in added innovations if it wishes to stay ahead of its
competitors (15)."
All levels of an organization must function at a consistent and above average level, to
help ensure its success. However, Information Technology has a unique impact on the
competitive climate and on the degree of interrelatedness of products and services with
rivals. This can lead to unusual degrees of simultaneous competition and collaboration
between companies. Therefore, it is again reiterated that a company must understand that
the changed nature of one's competitive climate is important in an era of growing IT
pervasiveness. In addition, the last decade has ultimately shown that as traditional
economic competitors actions change, or as the economic and functionality of Information
Technology change, the position of an organization relative to competitive companies will
also change. 
In both instances there is no technical or economic reason that can allow one company to
ream the excess benefits from the use of IT for any extended length of time. Furthermore,
competitive and technological forces simply do not seen to permit any one organization to
enjoy a sustainable competitive advantage just from its use of Information Technology.
However, it has been possible for an organization, over the last decade to capture many
competitive benefits and advantages. Thus, the benefits do not flow from the mere use of
IT but occur from the human, organizational and system innovations that are all a part of
the companies structure. Scott Morton states that,  IT is merely an enabler that offers
an organization the opportunity to vigorously invest in added innovations if it wishes to
stay ahead of its competitors."
Development and Clarifications of Needs
In the IT era rapid change and intense competition upper management needs to make
crucial, as well as quality decisions more frequently. This also is key not only to the
success of an organization but its survival as well. In order to make quality decisions
an organization must develop a game plan and clarify their needs.
In order for an organization to implement a new form of information technology upper
management must be able to assess the company's needs. Organizations do this by analyzing
past performance and expected future trends, so that a future direction can be planned.
Once these characteristics and many others are assessed then a company can develop a plan
on how to increase the efficiency of there IS systems, to achieve and even surpass their
goals. In addition, one goal that all organizations share is that they strive to
continuously improve the quality of their products or services. Therefore, any
Information Systems that are introduced into an organization must be able to enhance
these objectives, directly or indirectly. Also, many factors must be considered for an
organization to accurately clarify all of their needs and determine what IS will best
meet their needs. These factors can include, but are not limited to: (1) Business
relationships from loose/open (between a large number of organizations) to tight/closed
relationships (between a limited number of organizations. (2) Technology considerations
are based on connections and applications and depend on whether these are standardized
(and potentially widely available) or unique and proprietary (and available to a small or
controlled population). (3) Strategic options derive from the interplay of business
relationships and technology considerati9ons. (4) Integration scope is the depth of
penetration of the system into the internal processes of the participants in the business
network. (5) Participant roles are related to the IT systems used or shared. 
During the 1990s the "metabolic rate" of most organizations (the rate at which
information moves and decisions are made, within an organization) began to progress at a
fast pace. As we enter the 21st century, this trend continues to increase at an even more
accelerated rate. This increase in an organizations "metabolic rate" is partially due to
the fact that the external environment demands responsiveness and partly because of the
way IT has enabled changes to be made in how work is done. Since global competitive
forces do not permit a company to ignore its competition, as one firm picks up the new
options the others must follow. Thus, IT is becoming increasingly a part of the business
itself, part of the services provided or part of the products applied, as well as begin
the foundation on which the business processed of the organization, both internal and
external, depend.