The Role of IS in Strategic Analysis and Exploring Business Opportunities

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1. Opportunity & Impact Categorising

Opportunity categorising helps to clarify the business importance of IS within the organisation. This is achieved by making management more aware of potential business opportunities afforded by IS.

It is also important to analyse the impact IS may have on business, not only the opportunities it may present. This is known as 'Impact categorising'. As with SWOT, this model acknowledges that strategic gains can be made from development of both internal and external elements.

For internal elements you should think around staffing and equipment resources, management style and internal culture. External influences will be both market and/or industry wide, and global.

Strategic Importance Analysis

Table 3 demonstrates the different segments of the strategic importance matrix.

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Matrix (Figure 12) is divided into four segments, with each segment indicating where an organisation sits in relation to the impact of the organisation's IS and IT. The aim is to see if a change in IT/IS capabilities could improve the organisation's competitiveness (for example: add value to the business).

The strategic importance matrix can be linked to the Boston matrix segments as in table 4:

2. Benefit Level Matrix

The benefit level matrix provides a matrix that identifies who is affected as well as the level of importance of the IS strategy. As in the Impact Categorising model, this model differentiates between efficiency, effectiveness and competitive edge (for example: strategic advantage), but it also illustrates the evolution of IS by showing the benefits at Operational, Tactical and Strategic levels within the organisation. Table 5 illustrates examples of each level.

Opportunity categorising model helps to clarify the business importance of IS within the organisation. This is achieved by making management more aware of potential business opportunities afforded by IS. However, the impact categorising model helps analyse the impact IS may have on business, not only the opportunities it may present.

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Reference(s)
	Web		BCG. (2013) Boston Consulting Group [Online]. Boston Consulting Group: United States of America (USA), Massachusetts (MA), Suffolk, Boston. [Accessed on: 2013-01-19]. [Available on: BCG: http://www.bcg.com].
	Book		Chaffey, D. & Wood, S. (2004) Business Information Management: Improving Performance Using Information Systems. Financial Times Prentice Hall: United Kingdom (UK), England, Essex, Harlow. [ISBN: 9780273686552]. [Available on: Amazon: https://amzn.to/3yZ6vdF].
	Book		Laudon, K. C. & Laudon, J. P. (2007) Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm. 10th Edition. Pearson Prentice Hall: United States of America (USA), New Jersey (NJ), Bergen, Upper Saddle River. [ISBN: 9780132415798]. [Available on: Amazon: https://amzn.to/3UhgqDH].

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Reference (or cite) Article
	Kahlon, R. S. (2013) The Role of IS in Strategic Analysis & Exploring Business Opportunities [Online]. dkode: United Kingdom, England, London. [Published on: 2013-01-08]. [Article ID: RSK666-0000063]. [Available on: dkode | Ravi - https://ravi.dkode.co/2013/01/the-role-of-is-in-strategic-analysis.html].

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