Colorado Technical University
Valuing IT Phase 4 Individual Project 2
Professor Imad Al Saeed
EIS815 Enterprise Tools, Concepts, and Processes
Cheryl Cooper
Colorado Springs, Colorado
November 30, 2013
Table of Contents
Valuing IT Phase 4 Individual Project 2. 3
Do you agree with Carr that as Information Technology’s Power and Ubiquity grows, it’s
Strategic Importance Diminishes?. 3
Where the next IT Advantage may occur?. 3
Consider the IT Portfolio Management Triangle presented in Chapter 10. Would Carr’s
Arguments hold for all Types of IT Investments or just for Infrastructure Investments?. 5
Figure 1 Average IT Portfolio Profile (Source: Center for Information Systems Research,
2009) 6
The Original article in the Harvard Business Review Raised a Number of Questions by
Senior Business Managers about their IT Investment. As an IT Manager what Questions
would you Anticipate you would have to respond to and what would be your Response?. 7
Lessons Learned. 8
References. 9
Valuing IT Phase 4 Individual Project 2
The purpose for this paper was to review the case study Valuing IT in Pearlson and
Saunders (2010) textbook, and analyze and discuss the strategic implications as related to
management information systems (MIS) that was derived from this case. This paper
discusses how the company leveraged information technology (IT) to its strategic
advantage. The last section of the paper discusses lessons learned that would be valuable
for IS managers and executives. The case study is a classic case on how to manage the IT
investment portfolio to gain a competitive advantage.
Do you agree with Carr that as Information Technology’s Power and Ubiquity grows,
it’s Strategic Importance Diminishes?
This section discusses my position and thoughts on Carr’s concept about as information
technology’s power and infrastructure is everywhere, its strategic importance will lessen. I
believe it depends. Smaller companies would agree with Carr’s suggestion and look at
infrastructure systems as a commodity. Smaller companies will view infrastructure as to
costly to design and implement, and will opt to become a reseller or lease the
infrastructure. For example, Virgin Mobile, Boost Mobile, and Clearwire use Sprint’s
infrastructure to transport their wireless services and invest more monies in transactional
systems and strategic systems. Additionally, there is increasingly use of cloud services to
reduce cost. On the other hand companies such as Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T will continue
to invest in their infrastructures to stand apart and be more competitive by providing more
coverage and faster speeds.
