Please respond in paragraph form with at least 2 paragraphs answering the questi

Question

Please respond in paragraph form with at least 2 paragraphs answering the question below

Think about the delicate relationship between business managers and the IT managers. Is it more important for the business managers to understand IT or is it more important for the IT managers to understand the business model? Subsequently, should innovative IT opportunities drive the strategy for an organization (meaning something new come along and changes our strategy?) or should the strategy always dicate which technology to adopt?

Explanation / Answer

A business manager is a person who manages thw work of other employees in order to efficiently run a business. A business manager is required to have a working knowledge of finance, IT, sales, marketing, operations and other activities and functions of an organization. An IT manager is concerned with managing the information technology in an organization. The relationship between a business manager and an IT manager is a symbiotic one - both are dependent on each other and both benefit from each other. A business manager is helped by the IT manager to improve the systems in the organization and make use of IT to stimulate the flow of information and to support decision making. IT managers are dependent on the business managers with regards to implementation of new systems, introducing new tools of data management, MIS etc. IT is, at the end of the day, just a support function, and investment in IT will be decided by the business manager considering factors like costs, associated benefits, state of the economy, growth rate of the organization etc.

I would say that it is equally important for the IT managers to understand the business model as it is important for the business managers to understand IT. As outlined earlier, a business manager should have a working knowledge of various functions including IT. This will help him or her in taking strategic decisions for the organizations. IT managers should also have a fair understanding of the business model in order to understand what drives the firm's sales and revenue, which IT tools can help the firm better develop competitive advantage and how the IT department can propel the firm towards future growth. An understanding of IT by business managers and an understanding of business model by IT managers will help both these managers take decisions that is synchronised with the mission, vision, goals and objectives of the firm.

Again, with regards to IT and strategy, it should be a two way street. Usually and most of the times, business strategy will guide the technology being used within an organization. For example, the stratgey of an automobile company is to be presenst in the clean fuel sector and make non polluting cars. This strategy has dictated the use of electrical technology in cars manufactured by them. But when a firm sees a new and disruptive technology comong up, which has the potential to change the core business model, then the IT should be allowed to drive the strategy.

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