Almost every enterprise today has an IT service. Moreover, this term refers to both a department of several dozen specialists and one system administrator. However, the level of IT use in a business is determined not by how many IT professionals it has, but by how consciously such use occurs. Is it just "technical support" for the main goals of the business, or is the business planning process closely related to it? In the latter case, we are talking about the emergence of an IT strategy.

What is an IT strategy?

To answer the question "What is an IT strategy?" rating agency "Expert RA" conducted a study "Strategic goals of enterprises and IT" The basis of the study was interviews with top managers of consulting companies (IBS, CROC, TopS BI, CompuLink, SAP CIS, etc.), CEOs and CIOs of customer companies ( Toyota Business Car, Ingosstrakh, Aeroflot, AlfaStrakhovanie, etc.). According to the majority of survey participants (a total of 22 specialists were interviewed), an IT strategy is a document that should give company executives an answer to the question of how to use information technology for business development and what resources are needed for this. In other words, an IT strategy is a scenario according to which it is supposed to develop the information systems of an enterprise. An IT strategy concerns not only the development of IT, it defines priority areas and identifies the degree of importance of IT both for the business as a whole and for its individual areas. It can be said that an IT strategy is a technical task for a complex enterprise automation project.

You can live without an IT strategy, but you don't have to. The loud name "IT strategy" (or, in other words, "Strategic plan for the development of IT") includes, according to Felix Glickman, CEO of TopS BI, things that are quite obvious from the point of view of IT specialists. In a technical sense, this is the architecture of applications and data that support the company's business, IT infrastructure (servers, networks, personal computers). Also part of the IT strategy is the organizational aspect of the IT sphere, that is, the principles and organization of building an IT service in a company that will ensure the operation of applications and infrastructure. It is included in the IT strategy and budget of the IT sector, which determines both the internal costs of the company, for example, for personnel, premises, and payment for services and products of external providers (vendors, consultants, integrators). Also, the IT strategy includes a detailed plan for the implementation of the main (significant for the company) initiatives in the field of IT, indicating the points for achieving key results.

"There is no doubt that all the components of the IT strategy listed above are reviewed once a year by IT managers, at least for the formation of the company's IT budget for the next year in the fall," says Felix Glikman. That is, tactical planning in the field of IT is carried out by almost all companies. What usually prevents such plans from "reaching" the strategy is the limited planning time frame (usually 3 years) and the lack of a direct connection with business needs due to the weak participation of business leaders and key users of the company in the planning process.

When is an IT strategy needed?

In what case is it possible for an enterprise to have an IT strategy? According to Felix Glikman, IT development plans in one form or another are always present in companies. "The question of the quality and completeness of such plans remains open so that they can be called an IT strategy," he said. There are a number of signs by which this can be determined. First of all, it is the presence of a clear business development strategy. If not general plan business development, there will be no clear plan for the development of information systems. The role of the IT service in the enterprise is also important - the low status of the IT service and its director indicates that information technology is of low importance for the enterprise. To form an IT strategy, you need an amount of investment in IT that matches the scale of the task. At the same time, the enterprise itself must reach the stage of stable development (it is extremely difficult or simply impossible to develop an IT strategy for a rapidly growing company).

According to Alexander Tukunov, a member of the TopS Group of Companies Management Board, enterprises rarely engage in a comprehensive, systematic development of an IT strategy. "Ideally, there should be an IT department that has its own regulations, which once a year issues a certain concept of IT development, an IT strategy, and then can deal with its changes, monitor efficiency, and adjust if necessary," he says. ideal, in practice this is quite rare. Consultants estimate that 30% of businesses have an IT strategy in place, and another 50% plan to develop one.

The study showed that an IT strategy is needed primarily by certain types of enterprises. These are enterprises operating in highly competitive markets, retail markets, logistics companies, insurance companies, banks, aviation industry enterprises, as well as public and geographically distributed companies in various industries. The need to develop an IT strategy can arise in different situations. According to Alexander Tukunov, they can be combined into three groups. The first case is when it becomes necessary to coordinate the main directions of development of the IT sphere with the new business strategy of the company (in such a situation, the customer of the IT strategy will be the company's top manager - CEO). That is, the enterprise has a business strategy, and its task is to understand how IT resources can support this strategy, and, taking into account these requirements, develop an IT strategy.

Reengineering of business processes of any large structural division of the company (usually leading a separate line of business in the company) also entails the need to change the IT sphere of this division following the reengineering of activities. In this case, the order for the IT strategy follows from the head of this structural unit.

And finally, the development of an IT strategy can be initiated by the emergence of new technological capabilities that can more effectively support the current business activities of the structural divisions of the company or the entire company as a whole (in this situation, the initiative to order an IT strategy belongs to the IT manager - CIO). Some products or solutions appear on the IT solutions market that can radically change the course of business processes and procedures. These changes are tracked by the IT department and suggest using them to build a business strategy. In such a case, an IT strategy must be developed or changed in order to use such solutions.

CEO and CIO - conflict or interaction?

The management of any company receives information about the state of affairs in various departments in various ways. These are reports, indicators of information systems, and often just a piecemeal receipt of such information in conversations with employees. In the case of the IT department, the situation is exacerbated by the fact that the effectiveness of the IT infrastructure can hardly be expressed in concrete numbers. Dmitry Vasiliev, First Deputy General Director of CROC, believes that today's accounting systems, in particular accounting, do not allow evaluating the effectiveness of the applied IT strategy.

This breeds misunderstanding. Dmitry Sadkov, director of management consulting at IBS, emphasizes that the conflict between "CEO and CIO" is a conflict of two-way misunderstanding. "There are claims not only from business to IT, but also from IT to business. And these are justified claims - managers often do not want to personally deal with the problems of IT strategy and do not want to understand that IT can follow the business in its development."

At the same time, almost all experts agree that the main factors for the success of an IT strategy are the involvement of management and the allocation of a special managerial resource for these purposes. The IT department of the company will not be able to develop a full-fledged IT strategy on its own. "The most common mistake- when such development takes place within the IT department, - Alexander Tukunov is sure. - Whereas the participation of those who are engaged in business strategy as a whole is necessary. "If there is no such participation, then, according to Dmitry Vasiliev, sometimes the position of an IT director resembles an attempt to "catch up with a fleeing business with its tasks, and the business keeps running away and running away . And it is not clear whether you will catch up with him or not. "The quality of IT planning, i.e. IT strategy, and its value to the company depend to a greater extent on the involvement of the most interested party in the development of IT strategy - business users, and in to a lesser degree from the presence of a business strategy in the company," agrees Felix Glickman. He is sure that, as in the situation with the implementation of ERP systems, the development of an IT strategy should be a common affair: IT specialists and key users for whom it is planned creation (modernization) of the company's information system Working with key users and company management during the IT strategy development project allows not only to obtain more up-to-date information about the needs of the company's business (compared, for example, to those set out in the Business Strategy document), but also to prove to the management the need to invest in IT, to enlist the support of the heads of structural divisions in defending the IT strategy on the board of directors tors of the company. Therefore, the formal adoption of an IT strategy by a company and the allocation of investments for its implementation directly depend on the level of support for this IT strategy by the heads of the main business divisions of the company.

Engaging consultants: arguments for and against

At the same time, many experts believe that sometimes the development of an IT strategy is beyond the power of a company without the help of consultants. Customers generally believe that it is best to develop an IT strategy in-house, although they find the help of a consultant useful ("outside view"). According to the consultants themselves, enterprises order the development of an IT strategy from a consultant for the following reasons: firstly, due to the limited capabilities of their own IT service, because high-quality specialists are needed to develop an IT strategy, and enterprise specialists are usually overloaded with current work, secondly - for representative purposes, thirdly - thanks to the efforts of a consultant already working at the enterprise.

For those surveyed customers who used a consultant to develop an IT strategy, the strategy was most often developed not by an IT implementation consultant, but by a business consultant. An IT strategy consultant may be initiated by an enterprise CIO who needs to document the actions he intends to take. From the consultant's point of view, this is the best option, as it generates less conflict between consultants and enterprise IT. Also, the initiative to attract a consultant may come from the CEO of a public company. In this case, a well-known consulting company is involved. The worst option from the point of view of a conflict of interest is when the task of developing an IT strategy for consultants is set by the shareholders of the enterprise, who are dissatisfied with the work of their IT service. After all, in this case, consultants, in fact, have to "impose" a new vision of the role of IT to those who have previously been involved in the development of IT in the company.

Another problem is related to the complexity of the entire planning chain - from business plans to specific automation projects (see figure). To consult on individual "links" of this chain, enterprises today hire different consultants: business consultants develop a general business development strategy and functional strategies, "hardware" and telecommunications projects are planned and implemented by integrator companies, implementation consultants are engaged in the implementation of management systems.

This division of labor has a number of disadvantages - consultants working in adjacent areas give conflicting recommendations. For example, a business consultant develops a strategy that is in no way compatible with the capabilities of the information system, in the selection and implementation of which the implementation consultant takes part. At the same time, responsibility for the final results is blurred (each consultant is responsible for his own area). According to the consultants, each of the influential senior managers on large enterprise usually lobbies "his" consulting project and "his" consultant. This leads to conflicts of interest and increases the risk of project failure.

The study by RA "Expert" revealed a fairly obvious trend - consultants tend to expand the scope of their activities. Each of the consultants encroaches on a related field of activity: a business consultant advises on IT strategy, ERP system implementers and system integrators claim not only the role of IT strategy developer, but also the role of business consultant. The advantage of consulting "from one source" is obvious - the lower cost of complex consulting. If an enterprise hires a separate, "point" consultant for each task, the total cost of services will be 3-4 times higher than in the case of consulting "from one source". But there are also problems that complicate the involvement of one consultant for complex counseling. This is the lack of elaboration of new payment schemes for services (a percentage of the economic effect obtained, a bonus system instead of the traditional Time & Materials and Fixed Price schemes). In addition, customers do not want to become dependent on a single consultant, and the choice of such a consultant is not easy - the applicant consulting company must have highly qualified specialists in all types of consulting on its staff.

However, even the involvement of consultants does not guarantee that their recommendations will be useful. Irina Shuvalova, development director of RA "Expert RA", cites the following fact - 70% of the paid services of the consulting market, in fact, are money thrown away for clients, these recommendations have not been applied. Can we assume that this is the result of a simple misunderstanding? According to Irina Shuvalova, there are rather hidden psychological mechanisms that hinder strategic vision - a person is not inclined to trust radical recommendations that run counter to his own vision of the situation: "This is a mechanism for the psychological protection of managers."

In general, all experts are unanimous - an IT strategy in one form or another is necessary for any enterprise. It does not always have to exist in the form of a "thick" document approved by the management, it can be a more "mobile" document. "Today, any enterprise has an IT strategy in one way or another, so there is no point in discussing whether it is needed," says Felix Glikman. "Today, the main question is what kind of IT strategy should be, what is needed to make it really effective."

Information technology enables the performance of many business functions, opening up new prospects for realizing competitive advantages and interacting with customers and business partners. In this regard, long-term planning of the company's development in the field of information technology is of particular importance. The development of an IT strategy is becoming a fundamental direction of work in this area.

An IT strategy is a comprehensive plan for the development of an organization's information infrastructure for several years, clearly defining the priorities and goals of IT development and focused on improving the efficiency of the business as a whole. IT strategy is a kind of continuation of the organization's overall business strategy in the field of information technology development. In other words, the IT strategy is a set of IT solutions and resources that ensure the implementation of the main business objectives of the company. The strategy defines the perspectives, technologies, timelines and budget required by a particular organization to reduce costs or generate additional profits, i.e. ultimately enhancing strategic and competitive advantages.

The goal of a well-designed IT strategy is to help the company achieve its goals more effectively on the basis of information technology and indicate a mechanism for such cooperation that is understandable to the business.

The practical need to develop and adopt an IT strategy arises in organizations for several reasons:

discrepancy between the current state of informatization and business needs;

Structural and organizational changes (for example, the emergence and development of new lines of business, new offices);

Significant dependence of business on information technology;

a systematic approach to the implementation of common strategic objectives within the organization;

the emergence of new technologies that can improve the efficiency of the company;

optimization of information technology costs;

Lack of transparency in IT management and decision-making;

· improvement of corporate governance.

The role of IT, depending on the type of activity of the organization, can begin with basic support, ensuring the stable operation of the IT infrastructure and services, and end with a defining one in the main business processes. The IT strategy includes the following components:

IT infrastructure (computers, telecommunications, system software);

information systems (application software and IT services);

IT service (goals and objectives of the IT service, organizational structure, management methods, etc.).

The development of an IT strategy and the practical implementation of the recommendations indicated in it will make it possible to achieve the greatest effect from the introduction and development of IT, and to use IT resources more rationally. The IT strategy should support the organization's information technology development planning, dynamically changing in accordance with business requirements without losing its integrity. Only in this case, the result will be an increase in the level of return of IT for the business, the coordinated activities of the IT department with business tasks.

1 general characteristics strategic management

1.1 The essence and foundations of strategic management

Strategic management- this is such management that relies on human potential as the basis of the organization, orients production activities to the needs of consumers, responds flexibly and makes timely changes in the organization that meet the challenge from the environment and allow achieving competitive advantages, which together makes it possible for the organization to survive in the long term. perspective while achieving their goals.

The objects of strategic management are organizations, strategic business units and functional areas of the organization.

The subject of strategic management are:

1. Problems that are directly related to the general goals of the organization.

2. Problems and solutions associated with any element of the organization, if this element is necessary to achieve the goals, but is not currently available or is not available in sufficient quantity.

3. Problems associated with external factors that are uncontrollable.

“Problems of strategic management most often arise as a result of the action of numerous external factors. Therefore, in order not to make a mistake in choosing a strategy, it is important to determine what economic, political, scientific, technical, social and other factors influence the future of the organization.

The core of strategic management is a system of strategies that includes a number of interrelated specific business, organizational and labor strategies. Strategy is the pre-planned response of an organization to change. external environment, the line of her behavior chosen to achieve the desired result.

The key characteristics of the strategic aspect of organization management in comparison with the operational (current) management practiced in business over 20 years ago are shown in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1. Strategic management versus operational business management.

The essence of strategic management is the answer to 3 important questions:

1. What is the current state of the enterprise?

2. In what position would it like to be in 3, 5, 10 months?

3. How to achieve the desired result?

To solve the first question, an information base with relevant data is needed to analyze past, present and future situations. The second question reflects such an important feature for strategic management as its orientation to the future. It is necessary to determine what to strive for, what goals to set. The third issue is related to the implementation of the chosen strategy, during which the two previous stages can be adjusted. The most important components of this stage are the available or available resources, the management system, the organizational structure and the personnel who will implement this strategy.

Thus, the essence of strategic management is the formation and implementation of an organization's development strategy based on continuous monitoring and evaluation of ongoing changes in its activities in order to maintain the ability to survive and function effectively in an unstable environment.

Strategic management in the enterprise is expressed in the following five functions:

1. Strategy planning.

2. Organization of the implementation of strategic plans.

3. Coordination of actions for the implementation of strategic tasks.

4. Motivation to achieve strategic results.

5. Control over the process of implementing the strategy.

Strategy planning involves the implementation of such sub-functions as forecasting, strategy development and budgeting.

Forecasting precedes the actual drawing up of strategic plans. It is based on an analysis a wide range internal and external factors (conditions) of the functioning of the enterprise in order to anticipate the possibility of development and risk assessment. A systematic forecast allows you to develop a reasonable approach to the strategy of the enterprise. Forecasting traditionally uses three dimensions: time (how far ahead are we trying to see?), direction (what are the future trends?), and magnitude (how big will the change be?).

Taking into account the results of the analysis, the management of the enterprise formulates a mission (business area, global goal), determines the prospects for the development of the organization and develops a strategy. Linking the strategic goals of the enterprise with the results of the activities of individual units is carried out through the development of the necessary action program and budgeting. Budgeting includes program costing and resource allocation.

The organization of the implementation of strategic plans involves the formation of the future potential of the enterprise, the coordination of the structure and management system with the chosen development strategy, the creation of a corporate culture that supports the strategy.

Coordinating the actions of managers in the formation and implementation of the general strategy consists in coordinating strategic decisions at various levels and consistently consolidating the goals and strategies of structural units at higher levels of management. Motivation as a function of strategic management is associated with the development of a system of incentives that encourage the achievement of the set strategic results. Control consists in continuous monitoring of the process of implementing strategic plans. It is designed to identify impending dangers in advance, identify errors and deviations from the adopted strategies and policies of the enterprise.

The implementation of strategic management functions is carried out through the development and adoption of strategic decisions. Strategic decisions are called management decisions that are future-oriented and lay the foundation for making operational decisions, are associated with significant uncertainty, since they take into account uncontrollable external factors and are associated with the involvement of significant resources and can have extremely serious, long-term consequences for the enterprise.

Strategic decisions include, for example:

Reconstruction of the enterprise;

introduction of innovations (changes in the organizational and legal form, new forms of organization and remuneration, interaction with suppliers and consumers);

Entry into new markets;

Acquisition, merger of companies.

Strategic decisions have a number of distinctive features. The main ones are:

· innovative character;

focus on long-term goals and opportunities;

the complexity of formation, provided that the set of strategic alternatives is indefinite;

the subjectivity of the assessment;

Irreversibility and high degree of risk.

Strategic management is based on a number of principles that must be taken into account in the process of its implementation. The main ones are:

Science combined with elements of art. The manager in his activity uses the data and conclusions of many sciences, but at the same time he must constantly improvise, look for individual approaches to the situation. The implementation of this task presupposes, in addition to knowledge, mastery of the art of competitive struggle, the ability to find a way out of the most difficult situation, focus on key problems, highlight the main advantages of your organization.

Purposefulness of strategic management. Strategic analysis and strategy formation should be subject to the principle of purposefulness, i.e. be always focused on the achievement of the global goal of the organization. As opposed to free improvisation and intuition, strategic management is designed to ensure the conscious directed development of the organization and the focus of the management process on solving specific problems.

Flexibility of strategic management. It implies the possibility of making adjustments to previously made decisions or revising them at any time in accordance with changing circumstances. The implementation of this principle involves assessing the compliance of the current strategy with the requirements of the external environment and the capabilities of the enterprise, clarifying the adopted policy and plans in the event of unforeseen developments and increased competition.

Unity of strategic plans and programs. For success strategic decisions different levels should be coordinated and closely linked with each other. The unity of the strategic plans of commercial organizations is achieved through the consolidation of the strategies of structural divisions, mutual coordination of the strategic plans of functional departments.

Creation of the necessary conditions for the implementation of the strategy. The strategic plan does not ensure its mandatory successful implementation. The strategic management process should include the creation of organizational conditions for the implementation of strategic plans and programs, i.e. formation of a strong organizational structure, development of a motivation system, improvement of the management structure.

1.2 Competitive advantage strategy and IT strategy

Strategy of competitive advantages.

There are three strategies for creating competitive advantage. The first strategy is price leadership. With this strategy, the focus of the firm in the development and production of the product is cost. The main sources of creating price advantages are:

Rational business management based on accumulated experience;

Economies of scale by reducing costs per unit of output with an increase in production volume;

· Savings on diversity as a result of cost reduction due to the synergistic effect that occurs in the production of various products;

· optimization of intra-company relations, contributing to the reduction of company-wide costs;

· integration of distribution networks and supply systems;

optimization of the company's activities in time;

· Geographic location of the company's activities, allowing to achieve cost reduction through the use of local features.

When implementing a pricing strategy for creating competitive advantages for a product, a firm must not forget that its product must at the same time meet a certain level of differentiation. Only in this case, price leadership can bring a significant effect. If the quality of the Price Leader's product is significantly lower than the quality of similar products, then in order to create a price competitive advantage, it may be necessary to reduce the price so much that it can lead to negative consequences for the company. However, it should be borne in mind that the price leadership strategy and the differentiation strategy should not be mixed, and even more so should not be attempted to implement them at the same time.

Differentiation is the second strategy for creating competitive advantage. With this strategy, the company tries to give the product something distinctive, unusual, that the buyer may like and for which the buyer is willing to pay. A differentiation strategy aims to make a product different from what competitors do. To achieve this, the firm has to go beyond the functional properties of the product.

Firms do not necessarily use differentiation to gain a price premium. Differentiation can help expand sales by increasing the number of products sold, or by stabilizing consumption, regardless of fluctuations in market demand.

In the case of implementing a strategy for creating competitive advantages through differentiation, it is very important to focus on consumer priorities and the interests of the buyer. Earlier it was said that the differentiation strategy involves creating a product that is unique in its own way, different from the products of competitors. But it is important to remember that in order to have a competitive advantage, it is necessary that the unusualness of the product, its novelty or uniqueness be of value to the buyer. Therefore, the differentiation strategy assumes, as a starting point, the study of the interests of the consumer. For this you need:

· it is quite clear to present not just who the buyer is, but who makes the decision on the purchase;

· to study consumer criteria by which a choice is made when purchasing a product (price, functional properties, guarantees, delivery time, etc.);

· determine the factors that shape the buyer's idea of ​​the product (sources of information about the properties of the product, image, etc.).

After that, based on the ability to create a product of an appropriate degree of differentiation and an appropriate price (the price should allow the buyer to purchase a differentiated product), the company can begin to develop and manufacture this product.

A third strategy that a firm can use to create competitive advantage in its product is to focus on the interests of specific customers. In this case, the company creates its product specifically for specific customers. The concentrated creation of a product is connected with the fact that either some unusual need of a certain group of people is satisfied (in this case, the company's product is very specialized), or a specific system of access to the product is created (the system for selling and delivering the product). By pursuing a strategy of concentrated creation of competitive advantages, the firm can use both price attraction of buyers and differentiation at the same time.

As can be seen, all three strategies for creating competitive advantages have significant distinctive features that allow us to conclude that the company must clearly define for itself what strategy it is going to implement, and in no case mix these strategies. At the same time, it should be noted that there is a certain relationship between these strategies, and this should also be taken into account by firms when creating competitive advantages.

IT strategy.

An IT strategy, or a strategic plan for the development of information technology, is a scenario according to which it is supposed to develop the information and computing systems of an enterprise. It helps to understand which areas of the production and economic activities of the enterprise are most in need of automation. In fact, an IT strategy is a document that is addressed to company executives and answers the question of how to use IT for business development, what needs to be done for this, and what financial, human and other resources will be needed.

Behind the sonorous name "IT strategy" are well-known organizational, technical and financial plans:

· description of the existing and future architecture of information systems and data;

Description of the "iron" infrastructure (personal computers, servers, networks), which ensures the operability of enterprise information systems;

The structure and number of IT services that maintain information systems and equipment;

· IT expenses, which include the company's internal costs, as well as the costs of services and products of external suppliers, consultants and integrators;

· an enlarged schedule of the most important IT projects.

What does an IT strategy give an enterprise? Saving time, money and labor, and this effect is well illustrated by the example of automation of a geographically distributed enterprise. So, a regional branch of a large company turns to the central office with a request: what program to buy to automate financial accounting? The choice is wide - from inexpensive Russian accounting systems to Western integrated products, and in the branch they lean towards Western software. However, in the central office they answer: according to our strategic plan for the development of IT, in a year the implementation of an accounting and management system on a company-wide scale will begin. So, if you really need it, buy an inexpensive intermediate solution, but at the same time get ready for a corporate project - tidy up reference books, describe business processes, and so on. Knowing about the plans of the central office, the branch will refuse to purchase expensive software. On the one hand, this will allow him to save money, on the other hand, then he will not have to spend energy on integrating his system with the new company system. In addition, the branch will have time to prepare its regulatory and methodological framework before the start of a corporate project, which means it will not slow down its implementation.

The main indicator of the quality of a strategy is its suitability for implementation. In order for the strategic plan not to fall into the basket or into the archive, it must satisfy certain conditions: first of all, be linked to the strategic goals of the enterprise's business development and provide for backup options in case of unfavorable developments, that is, complications during automation.

Components of a good IT strategy:

· the results of the analysis of the business processes of the enterprise, as well as the degree of their automation;

Detailed analysis of requirements for information and computing systems

· several options for the development of information systems (the most expensive, the cheapest, etc.), with a risk assessment for each option;

· Cost, time and resource estimates for relevant IT projects.

In addition, a good strategy is not tied to a specific hardware or software vendor (i.e., multi-platform), and also consists of several stages (i.e., it is subject to change).

The main differences between conventional IT plans and strategy:

short planning period (usual plans are drawn up for a year, while the strategy is developed for three years);

binding to specific products;

Lack of analysis of the degree of automation of business processes;

· Weak connection with the needs of the business, which is explained by the low participation in IT planning of the most interested party - managers and key users.

If an enterprise does not have an IT strategy, this negatively affects:

The number of closed or frozen IT projects (the risk of closing a project due to certain changes in the business due to external or internal reasons is growing);

· on the IT cost structure, which is becoming suboptimal (the largest part of the costs falls on the operation and integration of existing systems of various sizes, and not on new information technologies);

on the structure and number of IT services, which are also not optimal;

on the financial performance of the enterprise.

However, the relationship between the presence or absence of an IT strategy and the financial performance of enterprises is rather weak and manifests itself only in the long term.

According to the consultants' summary estimates, 30% of enterprises have an IT strategy and another 50% want to have it. The prevalence of strategic IT planning varies greatly depending on the industry, size and ownership of the enterprise.

Companies and industries leading by the number of IT strategies:

· Highly competitive industries in general;

· Enterprises operating in the retail markets: retail chains, insurance companies and banks;

· Enterprises of the aviation industry;

Large geographically distributed companies;

· Public companies.

To form a full-fledged strategic plan for the development of IT in an enterprise, appropriate organizational and financial conditions and prerequisites must be created.

At the same time, for successful strategic IT planning, in fact, the same conditions and prerequisites are needed as for the successful implementation of any IT projects.

Basic organizational and financial prerequisites for developing an IT strategy

· The enterprise has a business development strategy (there is no clear business development plan, and there will be no clarity on how to develop information systems).

· Heads of functional divisions should reach an agreement on further directions of automation.

· The significant role of the IT service in the enterprise, a short distance between the owners or top managers and the head of the IT service (when the IT service is not clear on the overall goals of business development, it is impossible to ensure the consistency of business and IT plans).

· The amount of investment in IT, corresponding to the scale of tasks.

· The enterprise must develop steadily (it is not possible to develop an IT strategy for a rapidly growing company or a company undergoing major changes, such as a change of ownership).

Two factors play a decisive role in the development of an IT strategy: a unified vision of the areas of automation for all managers on whom decisions in the field of IT depend, and a significant status of the IT service in the enterprise.

The path from the development of a general business strategy to the launch of specific information systems corresponding to this strategy is quite long, the consultants say: first, a business strategy is formed, then "point" strategies for individual areas of activity and business areas. Then, when the company has fully decided on the general and particular goals of business development, an IT strategy is developed. But this strategic development plan still needs to be implemented: first, equip the enterprise with computer equipment, complete various projects to create networks and communication channels, and then move on to the introduction of accounting and management systems and other business software. Finally, the separate systems put into operation need to be integrated. This sequence of projects and plans links business and IT.

2. Analysis and evaluation of strategic management in the organization

2.1 Organizational and legal characteristics of the organization

Open Joint Stock Company "Argillit" is the first and key enterprise of the international holding "Region-Invest-Prom" (see Figure 1.). As a result of the first wave of privatization in Russia, a group of private individuals bought out the rights to own the property of USR in the city of Chernogorsk, on the basis of which, in the spring of 1999, OJSC Argillit was subsequently founded. At the moment, the enterprise specializes in the production of clay polymer compositions and independent transportation of its products throughout Russia.

Since the enterprise in question is part of an international holding, it would be advisable to consider the advantages and disadvantages of the holding as a whole.

Managment structure.

According to the job description of the system administrator and assistant system administrator of OAO Argillit, the duties of the above employees include "ensuring the security of the holding's data" and "developing new methods to improve the holding's work." As shown in Figure 2, decisions on making proposals to improve the efficiency of the holding can be made both by the direct management of Argillit OJSC and by people responsible for making management decisions relating to the entire holding as a whole.

2.2 Feasibility study of the enterprise

The basis of the material and technical base of the IT service of JSC "Argillit" are personal computers IBMPC (PC), network equipment that provides communication between the JSC domain and the corporate network of the holding and various office equipment (printers, plotters, scanners, copiers, projectors). At the workplace, each employee has a personal computer, which is the main tool for performing work.

For the implementation of the workflow process, support for 2 websites and smooth operation Email Servers running Windows Server 2003 are used.

The company uses only licensed software. In particular, licensed WindowsXP and MSOffice 2003 are used.

2.3 Analysis of the influence of factors of the external and internal environment

Strategic management considers the environment as a combination of three environments: the macro environment, the immediate environment and the internal environment of the organization. However, in this paper, two components of the organization's environment are considered: external and internal environment.

2.3.1 External environment of the organization

The study of the immediate environment of the organization is aimed at analyzing the state of those components of the external environment with which the organization is in direct interaction. At the same time, it is important to emphasize that the organization can have a significant impact on the nature and content of this interaction and thus actively participate in the formation of additional opportunities and in the prevention of threats to its further existence.

External factors are:

1. Competition. The financial threshold for entering the market for clay polymer compositions is very low;

2. Changes in the legislation of the Russian Federation regarding international transactions of natural resources;

3. Economic situation. Critical situation in the international economy, it forces the main consumers of clay polymer compositions to look for other methods for obtaining the corresponding products;

2.3.2 Internal environment of the organization

The internal environment of an organization is that part common environment, which is located within the organization. It has a permanent and most direct impact on the functioning of the organization.

Factors that characterize the internal environment of the organization include the following:

1. The constant struggle for the preservation of trade secrets within the organization;

2. Well-established mechanisms of management and interaction;

3. Attracting highly qualified professionals in the quality control of the final product;

2.3.3 Analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the organization

Each enterprise included in the holding has its own chemical complex. laboratories specializing in product quality control. This ensures greater speed in making management decisions, since the quality data received by the board of directors is more operational and, therefore, relevant. The speed of making managerial decisions is higher.

Each enterprise keeps its own specialist in negotiating with local regulatory authorities. This reduces the time of scheduled inspections of the holding's activities and reduces the cost of transporting raw materials abroad and within the country. The speed of extraction and transportation is higher. Shipping costs are lower.

Centralized management of the holding by the parent company increases the speed of decision-making.

The centralization of the holding's financial assets in Moscow makes it possible to better plan spending on raw materials in the regions. The cost of local planning is minimized.

The parent company employs highly qualified specialists who monitor the situation with subsoil auctions in the regions. Their duties also include repurchasing the right to participate in the auction from competing companies. It is difficult for competitors to break the holding's monopoly on clay polymer compositions.

Disadvantages of JSC "Argillite"

Absence centralized system product quality control leads to the fact that the quality data provided by regional partners is not always true. This causes the need for additional specialists involved in operational quality control in the field. Management decisions are often wrong due to incorrect quality data.

Centralized management of the holding by the parent company leads to the fact that many management decisions do not take into account the local situation in the regions.

The centralization of the holding's financial assets in Moscow increases the time required to conduct prompt cash transactions in the regions. Problem situations that arose at the supplier company are most often resolved with a long delay.

Analysis of competitors of OAO Argillit

Inside Russia, the holding is constantly faced with attempts to violate its monopoly by local fly-by-night companies. When a new polymer deposit is discovered in a region, a company is registered that claims to participate in an auction for the right to develop it. The goal of such a company is to remove most of the high-quality raw materials from the field in two years and, without bothering with the costs of storage and processing, transport the raw materials abroad at a bargain price. There are many similar companies and they often work in a similar way. Problems with competitors within Russia and the CIS countries are dealt with by the specialists of the parent company.

Foreign competitors pose a much greater danger, as they supply raw materials for more High Quality. In this case, the main competitive advantage holding is that the export of natural resources from Russia and the CIS countries abroad is much cheaper for a foreign buyer than a similar transaction from Greece, Australia or France. Thus, construction companies from the USA, which are the main consumer of the holding's products, prefer to work with R-I-P.

The following aspects are characteristic of the Region-Invest-Prom trading house:

Strengths:

· High demand for clay polymer compositions among Western construction corporations;

· Compliance with the quality system in the field of production and processing of clay polymer compositions;

· Highly qualified personnel who communicate with representatives of inspection authorities;

Weak sides:

· Lack of certain types of key IT qualifications and competencies;

· Lack of a centralized document management system;

· Lack of a centralized quality control system for raw materials mined in the regions;

Possibilities:

· Accelerated decision-making by management;

· Centralization of quality control systems for raw materials mined in the regions;

· Strengthening control over data transactions within the holding in order to prevent leaks;

· Changes in the labor market;

· Changes in legislation regarding the sale of natural resources of the Russian Federation;

· Increasing the number of competitors.

2.4 Defining IT strategy

The definition of the mission and goals of the organization, considered as one of the processes of strategic management, consists of three sub-processes, each of which requires a large and extremely responsible work. The first sub-process consists in the formation of the mission of the organization, which in a concentrated form expresses the meaning of its existence and purpose. The mission gives the organization originality, fills the work of people with a special meaning. Next comes the sub-process of setting long-term goals. And this part of strategic management ends with the sub-process of setting short-term goals. The formation of the mission and the establishment of the goals of the organization lead to the fact that it becomes clear what it functions for and what it aspires to.

The mission of the holding "Region-Invest-Prom" can be formulated as follows: "Maintaining the monopoly in the export market of clay polymer compositions and setting a new quality bar at the stage of processing raw materials."

The following strategic goals can be distinguished:

· Ensuring data integrity;

· Installation and use of the latest means of control over data transactions, in order to ensure the security of the holding's confidential data;

· Centralization of data flows related to the results of the work of regional chemical laboratories;

3. Suggestions for developing an IT strategy

3.1 Definition of strategies

There is no single strategy for all companies, just as there is no single universal strategic management. Each organization is unique in its own way, therefore, the process of developing a strategy for each organization is unique, as it depends on its position in the market, the dynamics of its development, its potential, the behavior of competitors, the characteristics of the goods it produces or the services it provides, the state of the economy, the cultural environment and many more factors. At the same time, there are some fundamental points that allow us to talk about some generalized principles for developing a command strategy and implementing strategic management.

The essence of strategic management, as follows from the above, is that in the organization, on the one hand, there is a clearly organized integrated strategic planning, on the other hand, the organization's management structure is adequate to strategic planning and is built in such a way as to ensure the development of a long-term strategy to achieve the company's goals. and the creation of management mechanisms for the implementation of this strategy through a system of plans.

Strategic management is associated with setting the organization's goals and maintaining certain relationships with the environment that allow it to achieve its goals and correspond to its internal capabilities. The potential that ensures the achievement of the organization's goals in the future is one of the end products of strategic management.

Another end product of strategic management is the internal structure and organizational changes that ensure the sensitivity of the organization to changes in the external environment.

The organization's potential and strategic opportunities are determined by its architectonics and the quality of its personnel.

Along with the obvious advantages, strategic management has a number of disadvantages and limitations on its use, which indicate that this type of management, like all others, does not have universal application in all situations and for solving any problems.

First, strategic management, by virtue of its essence, does not and cannot give accurate and detailed picture future.

Secondly, strategic management cannot be reduced to a set of routine procedures and schemes.

Thirdly, huge efforts and large investments of time and resources are required in order for the organization to begin the process of strategic management.

Fourth, the negative consequences of mistakes in strategic foresight are sharply increasing.

Fifth, in the implementation of strategic management, the main emphasis is often placed on strategic planning. In fact, the most important component of strategic management is the implementation of the strategic plan.

Thus, strategic management activities are aimed at providing a strategic position that will ensure the long-term viability and development of the organization in a changing environment. Its tasks are to identify the need for and carry out strategic changes in the organization; create an organizational architectonics that promotes strategic change; select and educate personnel capable of carrying out strategic changes.

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