MAXIMIZING THE GAINS FROM STRATEGIC INFORMATION-SYSTEMS THROUGH AN INTEGRATED PLANNING APPROACH

Organizations in the post-industrial era are confronted with a turbule nt and complex environment where competition is intense. To thrive in such an environment, information technology has been harnessed in the form of strategic information systems by many organizations to gain co mpetitive edge over their competitors. Although strategic information systems promise high returns in successful cases, they involve a treme ndous amount of risk during their introductory stages. The effective m anagement of risk requires the identification of factors facilitating the use of strategic systems in organizations. From a literature revie w, such factors identified in previous studies are placed into an inte grated framework. Successful exploitation of information technology ne cessitates effective planning for the use of strategic systems. Corpor ate planning issues which address such factors in the integrated frame work are discussed.