[DECEMBER 5, 1988

APPLJED INTELLIGENCE —

; : | Developin da OtI: C Vision for BusinesS

CIn this, the sec- | latea variety of factors that would One of the dangers of most method concerned with comp s trend
 ond pijem col- —  raise the costs of competition. — ologies used for strategic planning is suppliers, SRS: ee iii
umns on strate- — With innovation, there should be a that they tend to prevent their users and, in general, eti ee den
gic systems, Constant search for innovative ideas—to  irom seeing the strategic-systems oppor" new, competitive kod niti te Nommi
James Martin improve products, services, production tunities. The reason is that they are con- use a planning ges z ga EO zpelincal
discusses the technigues and so on. Innovation may cerned with automating today s corpo briši SE slak na eral. it is desir-
business risks of — be used offensively to pre-empt competi- rate functions. Strategic-systemS vision ly focus on | KR kose ile deo iča
building strate- tion or defensively to lessen an advan- is concerned with changing the corpo able strategic ME zan sd: rather
gic information | tage the competition has. ov evi rate functions or building new activities enterprise might be ci zah k Vivat
systems. 'Growth may be geographical expan- in the corporation. than to solely examine and modi wie" |
Strategic sys-  - sion, expansion within an existing terri: Many strategic planning methodolo- al JE that the use of
tems often re- tory, vertical expansion of a product gies are derived from IBM s Business Wiseman observes (nav « k from
guire a corpora- | line or diversifi rsification by adding new Systems Planning (BSP). Methodologies  computers in corpori tions evolved from |

| 1si- traditional data-processing (MIS) sys-
nea ii x nee tems to management-support systems
different way. h (MSS) and now needs to evolve to stra: |
They are innovative in the sense that ksi tegic information systems (SIS). Tradi- |
an entrepreneur is innovative. Not all ; tional data processing systems processed
predefined transactlons to produce |

MARTIN

- i -— zami Pe Pi da ; a " H —r— m — — nu" kej a me sa i VEL LA 8. ; de |
a kj ZOV VRE JA ES OK RNA
yo - i di ke? unih J s njaki a Kočo fi nij - ki I k ji yu ui D yi gli

ui k) he s I ati | Re A H k si vii z F svit ui! te s ! et: m
Mei: EI TEREN PER MI Ma PE vDDD | potke

business innovations succeed, just as not st
| : | . s ko x ; eg eta ke Ji Yi: | U?.. Hu 4 | o beti | ]! ; T] - | ed a ih |
all entrepreneurial startups succeed. prsa ON ARAL' nike bra pr SA MM ESR eU (ee EI a predefined r ei aco: npbtesle |
And some strategic systems have failed. |". Job Mai av id Nje ee ONE PGOUSI K Me po NJA roll, invoicing, purchasing, inventory |
| | | a SA, zdi alaji Pla, a te DA 1 sa di ue ea o 4% ; | | ma | | 5
Federal Express, for example, reaped gla ai ele4M $u plief Custom r ti Competi nd control, accounts payable, accounts re-
| aaa A pija cejvable and so on. Management-support

great benefits from the innovations that de
led to its basic business, but it failed 44; Mn
when it attempted to innovate ZapMail.  |.:':i':': ski
ZapMail was a system for using elec- EJ SNL LeAH
tronic transmission combined with the ž s »Differenti ati
Federal Express computer-controlled de- ša NB EENG

systems were designed to satisfy the in-
formation needs oi managers and assist
in the decision-making process. They
provided guery facilities, "what-if' capa:
bilities, spreadsheets and decision-sup-
port tools.
" Wiseman says that many traditional
data-processing veterans resisted the
emergence of MSS, refusing to admit
their existence. Others argued that they
jt ARSE. fa gonekkvik( IE: uri were merely extensions of existing MIS
have been disastrous for American Air- SRN ee igr nije MO ERA GE nei pe poaenek | j ae] systems. Similarly, many of today's sys-
lines. American spent $350 million to EEA ema PERE AE nm €E! EM. | tems planners are ignoring strategic-in-
business risk in the same way a startup. |e its alo MI EM Ee O s K eo A KAO. solely on the functions of today s enter-
company takes a business risk. But tne a eno Nia Let, SR Aa kse kovi č ReO S SAMI Gi seti [4] prise.
š pros dose MSS systems were often built by peo-

ple who differed culturally from those
who built traditional MIS systems. MIS

n,

,"

l
s

paš: ča
ji:

livery fleet for delivering documents in k; RA SARE Gal
an hour or so. The strategic thrust that se bk lei NAR mačke
ZapMail represented was a very expert: SEE EP OTI$:
(sive failure. HA IE

| If the American Airlines Sabre system 4 ai va MARE Ma
| for travel agents had failed, that would žo. Innovation ME RE ENODN

gi

A da na
s ; A, bil,
ug E domi pra KI
RA
ji B

UM uč 1

a
m
na?
zaš
si
Li
in

« no" i]
om "a Ha I
f a hoča
iu pe

dai, ja
k, HA S

Li

Kia saj 4 pa glas Veli pe a m je adiji J K ] i o PRA ar . cak ' RK, LA rr modi nar iu s% kajič lj A au SJE s
ET i i | me ar iu ira bi . a Ne se m kd če do zira IL ae d RE JE a eU SRP pi Ne pog ana ea peg NA FE
| Hu | A A a ZM m Ma ai, ME ma h ai ai pot ' k 7 . šibi ris PELA aj NI pa Se xi
| mni tie, mi oda Para edi a Vadi o] a EM bem PE Aa LE |
o ana, ZA ka m. duš urea Z pali EN: niko ag ETR ke ki gr dai, eu k : s
j . [ 2 a a ba ke si oč Ta či mai sd bega, TE ld nada REZA hot 4Y pake ŽE Me? čTe '
use a strategic information syS- a si Ko EN za
5 ! 4 | io a .- j zi me, hi K : ;

- a - - - ,
, tem is a business risk, the decision to A ia a rani
A ." a | —. kd EI ži: vt maje LEA RA, špč Pali 4i. : paši a Bk s : | |
s build it cannot be taken by an informa- | šs si! zrezane ŠE developers learned to observe what was
o o e— PNE a S POD TNANASKT S s happening, to draw charts of it and to

must Come ITo n top managemen MA... re: die UEUE ||. aesign systems to replace existing proce-
The strategic vision may be initiated by z jas PRERAREN pretijo dures. MSS developers, on the other
a computer executive or chief informa- ŽRELA! 4 hand, had to satisfy information needs
tion officer, but that vision must be Usb NAŠE ZN Dee RD IA a — boso] of managers and professionals, which
passed to top management, who will re- a O Man Witehorke.. were not observable and not expressed
fine it and take action. with precision. Some MSS systems were
The edi SEA to create | built by end users or planning staff in
an innovative business thrust was sum: ko ela ; - an information-center environment.
| marized in last week's column. Some of Strategic systems visvon considers competition, Wiseman suggests that strategic-infor-
| these examples represented sweeping | ce, ' re ru<tnmere industru trends mation systems should be conceived and
| changes in the businesses discussed and technology , SUPP llers, customers, industry irenas designed by a different group in a cor-
resulted in a new mode of operations J' actors that f' acilitate new, com petitive thrusts. poration than that which designs MIS or
for their industry. Most examples of MSS. Strategic-information systems are
strategic systems are less dramatic but | not designed by observing existing func-
of major importance to the corporation tions but by inventing new functions.
in guestion. types of products. Growth may be done — with different names that are used by They reguire a different type of creativ-
Charles Wiseman, in his book 'Strate- offensively, or it may be done to protect large consulting or accounting firms are ity and business acumen. People good at
gy and Computers," classifies strategic the sales from competing thrusts. often variants on BSP. The ideas of BSP conceiving SIS differ culturally from
| thrusts into five categories: differentia- in the alliance strategy, a corporation have been taught in various forms in most of the people who design tradition:
tion, cost, innovation, growth and alli- may buy or merge with another corpo- thousands of IBM training classes and al MIS or MSS. Once specified, SIS might
ance. ratjon or form a strategic partnership in are the basis of various IBM guides on be constructed by the professionals who
For each of these, the thrusts can be order to expand its market or make its Systems Planning. IBM's BSP manual construct other systems.
either offensive Or defensive. There is product line more complete or more use: states that its objective is 'to provide an Next week, we'll look at strategic ap-
thus a matrix of possibilities, as the ac- ful. This, again, may be an offensive information systems plan that supports plications of personal computers. H
pa ne Jeme zgo jes na Majev to pre-empt competition, or it the business's short- and long-term in- ————LLL > —
e first case of differentiation, a may be defensive to lessen an advantage formation needs and is integral with the The James ! im luctivity Seri
corporation can move to differentiate its achieved by the competition. | business plan." Ki EI okna!
product or services from those of its The technology that makes new stra- BSP defines "environment: as those terly, is available through High Pro-
competition. The move to make a prod: tegic thrusts possible is very different things that lie outside the scope of the ductivity Software Inc., of Marble-
se stand out from its competition isan now from when Baron de Reuter or Bar- planning study: the economy, govern: head, Mass. (617) 639-1958. For infor-
of iso ne: A defensive strategy on de Rothschild used carrier pigeons to ment regulations, labor, consumerism, mation on seminars, please contact (in
sš es GM to improve the product to gain a competitive advantage. Today the competition, industry position, industry — the United States and Canada) Tech-
koks polije ve achieved by technology keeps changing, constantly trends, suppliers and technology. The nology Transfer Institute, 741 1 0th St.
jo on 4 REL idea opening up new possibilities. Types of BSP manuals instruct planners to ignore Santa Monica, Calif. 90402 (213) 394-
obor itirisisto 1 t, there are many technology that support an information these environmental factors when con- 8305. In Europe, contact Savant, Z
k AKA to reduce the cost of a strategy are listed in the accompanying ducting the BSP study. New St., Carnforth, Lancs., LA5 9BX
| ompany may also manipu- chart. Strategic systems vision is very much United Kingdom (0524) 734 505.

Mm mo | če. ni. ie

ODDA MA OM IDE "A ME" 3A