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Quiz 9 Chapter 12
IT Strategic Planning
Multiple Choice
1. Making IT investments on the basis of an
immediate need or threat are sometimes necessary. What can managers expect from
making investments in this way?
a) These are proactive approaches that will
maximize ROI.
b) These just-in-time approaches to
investments minimize long-term costs.
c) These are reactive approaches that can
result in incompatible, redundant, or failed systems.
d) These quick responses provide the best
defenses.
2. The alignment of IT with the business
strategy is dynamic and a(n) __________.
a) ongoing process
b) annual event
c) challenge for operations managers
d) decreasing in importance
3. Cloud computing and software-as-a-service
(SaaS) are forms of __________.
a) in-house development
b) offshoring
c) outsourcing
d) sourcing
4. Why did British-Swedish company
AstraZeneca undergo a major restructure from a traditional model to a
loosely-coupled business model?
a) Management forecasted a significant loss
in its sales revenues.
b) Management wanted to implement the latest
IT and social networks.
c) Competition in the pharmaceutical industry
was decreasing.
d) All of the above
5. Optimally, the __________ guides
investment decisions and decisions on how ISs will be developed, acquired,
and/or implemented.
a) network infrastructure
b) SWOT
c) level of IT expertise
d) IT strategy
6. Typically, ITs that provide competitive
advantages, or that contain proprietary or confidential data are developed and
maintained by __________.
a) consulting companies
b) the in-house IT function
c) a single vendor
d) multiple vendors
7. According to a survey of business leaders
by Diamond Management & Technology Consultants, 87 percent believe that IT
is critical to their companies' strategic success. In addition, the survey
reported that __________.
a) most business leaders work with IT to
achieve success
b) most IT staff are very involved in the process
of developing business strategy
c) only about one-third of business
executives responsible for strategy work closely with the IT department
d) IT projects are rarely abandoned
8. Which is not one of the reasons why an IT
project is discontinued or abandoned?
a) The project was under-budget
b) The business strategy changed
c) Technology changed
d) The project sponsors did not work well
together
9. An organization’s __________ define(s) why
it exists.
a) strategy
b) objectives
c) targets
d) mission statement
10. __________ are the desired levels of
performance.
a) Strategy
b) Objectives
c) Targets
d) Visions
11. An organization’s __________ are
action-oriented statements (e.g., achieve a ROI of at least 10 percent in 2014)
that define the continuous improvement activities that must be done to be
successful.
a) strategies
b) objectives
c) targets
d) mission statements
12. IT
governance is concerned with insuring that organizational investments in IT
__________.
a) support
operations
b)
provide sustainable competitive advantage
c)
deliver full value
d) are
audited quarterly
13. It
is the duty of the __________ to insure that information systems, technology,
and other critical activities are effectively governed.
a) IT
function
b) Board
of Directors (BOD)
c) end
users
d) HR
function
14. IT
governance covers each of the following areas except:
a)
inventory management
b)
resource management
c) risk
management
d)
strategy support
15. Characteristics
of resources that can help firms create a competitive advantage are all of the
following except:
a)
appropriability
b)
governance
c)
rarity
d) value
16. Why
is it insufficient to develop a long-term
IT strategy and not reexamine the strategy on a regular basis?
a)
Systems need to be maintained
b) To
keep the CIO part of the executive team
c)
Organizational goals change over time
d) To
automate business processes
17. The
__________ is a group of managers and staff representing various organizational
units that is set up to establish IT priorities and to ensure that the IS
department is meeting the needs of the enterprise.
a)
corporate steering committee
b) board
of directors
c)
executive suite
d) audit
team
18.
Based on case studies, the types of work that are not readily offshored include
the following:
a) Work
that has been routinized
b)
Business activities that rely on an common combination of specific application-domain knowledge
c)
Situations that would expose the client company to too much data security or
privacy risks
d) All
of the above
19. For
best results, an organization’s strategic
IT plan is based on __________.
a) IT
governance
b) cloud
computing
c) the
latest mobile technologies
d) the
strategic business plan
20. All
of the following are tools or methodologies that managers use for IT strategic
planning except:
a)
business service management
b)
business systems planning model
c)
balanced scorecard
d)
dashboards
21.
Business service management is an approach for linking __________ or metrics of
IT to business goals to determine the impact on the business.
a) key
performance indicators (KPIs)
b)
critical success factors (CSFs)
c)
scorecards
d)
financials
22. What
do managers use KPIs for?
a) To
measure real-time performance
b) To predict future results
c) To
measure results of past activity
d) All
of the above
23. __________
are the most essential things that
must go right, or be closely tracked, to ensure the organization's survival and
success.
a) Key
performance indicators (KPIs)
b)
Critical success factors (CSFs)
c)
Scorecards
d)
Financials
24.
Which is not one of the characteristics of critical success factors (CSFs)?
a)
Organizations in the same industry have the same CSFs.
b) The CSF approach was developed to help
identify the information needs of managers.
c) The
fundamental assumption is that in every organization there are three to six key
factors that, if done well, will result in the organization's success.
d) The
failure of these factors will result in some degree of failure at the
organization.
25.
__________ is used in planning situations that involve much uncertainty, like
that of IT in general and e-commerce
in particular.
a) Key
performance indicators (KPIs)
b)
Scenario planning
c)
Critical success factors (CSFs)
d)
Balanced scorecard
26.
Resource allocation is a contentious process in most organizations because
opportunities and requests for spending far exceed the available funds. This
can lead to __________ among organizational units, which makes it __________ to
objectively identify the best investments.
a) highly
political competition; difficult
b)
highly political competition; easier
c)
cooperation; simple
d)
cooperation; difficult
27. The
__________ of organizations are the things they do best and that represent
their competitive strengths.
a) competitive
advantages
b)
customer-facing activities
c) core
competencies
d) back
office functions
28. IT
is difficult to manage for organizations __________. .
a) of
all types
b) in
retail
c) in
manufacturing
d) in
finance
29. Outsourcing can be done __________.
a) domestically or offshore
b) via
cloud computing or SaaS
c) via
business processing
d) a and
b
30.
Cloud computing is for outsourcing of __________.
a)
routine tasks
b)
routine tasks and the delivery of real business services
c)
proprietary systems
d)
nonproprietary applications
31.
__________ is the process of hiring another company to handle business
activities for you.
a) Cloud
computing
b)
Business processing outsourcing (BPO)
c) SaaS
d) IT
outsourcing
32.
__________ includes many functions that are considered non-core to the primary
business strategy, such as financial and administration processes, human
resource functions, call center and customer service activities, and
accounting.
a) Cloud
computing
b)
Business processing outsourcing (BPO)
c) SaaS
d) IT
outsourcing
33.
Outsourcing deals are typically __________.
a)
multi-year contracts
b)
short-term service level agreements
c)
temporary arrangements
d)
one-year projects
34.
Lessons that eBay and Genpact learned from the BPO implementation include each
of the following except:
a)
Manage change by securing the commitment of senior leaders
b) Set
realistic expectations and manage them actively
c) Focus
on minimizing costs
d)
Anticipate risks and formulate a plan for mitigating them
35.
Which is not one of the lessons that eBay learned from its BPO implementation?
a)
Challenges can be avoided by partnering with a global leader in business
process and technology management.
b) Build
a project-management infrastructure
c)
Create a governance mechanism
d)
Properly define how success will be measured
36.
Since the late 1980s, many organizations have outsourced __________.
a)
supply chain functions
b) the majority of their IT functions
c) only
incidental parts of their IT function
d)
marketing functions
37. The
trend in outsourcing has been toward the __________.
a)
single vendor
b) use
of short term contracts
c) mega-deal
d) multi-vendor approach
38. The
major reasons why organizations are increasingly outsourcing include each of
the following except:
a) to
focus on core competency
b) it’s a faster way to gain or enhance IT
capabilities
c) to
support supply chain transactions
d) cloud
computing and SaaS have proven to be effective IT strategies
39.
Which of the following statements about outsourcing is false?
a)
Increasingly, organizations are leveraging existing global cloud infrastructures from companies such as Amazon and
Google.
b)
Established companies are less willing to outsource company-critical functions
in an effort to reduce costs.
c) New
start-up companies typically outsource and rely on SaaS to avoid upfront IT
costs.
d)
Outsourcing companies have started to offer interesting new business models and
services around cloud computing.
40.
Which is not one of the risks associated with outsourcing?
a)
flexibility
b)
shirking
c)
poaching
d)
opportunistic repricing
True/False
41.
Making IT investments on the basis of an immediate need or threat is not a
smart strategy because it can result in incompatible, redundant, or failed
systems.
42. The
two basic types of IT strategies are offshoring often with help from a consulting
firm and/or vendor; and outsourcing to a third-party that resides either in the
same country or is offshore.
43. For
more productive service level agreements, companies may hire an outsource relationship management company
to monitor and manage the outsourcing relationships.
44. To
reduce costs, biopharmaceutical AstraZeneca shifted from a vertically
integrated company to a loosely-coupled organizational model connected by
outsourced arrangements and relationships.
45. AstraZeneca
was able to quickly set up outsourcing relationships despite complex regulatory
hurdles.
46.
AstraZeneca had signed a seven-year global outsourcing agreement with IBM.
Under the deal, IBM provides a single global technical infrastructure for
AstraZeneca covering 60 countries.
47. IT
strategic plans should be made within the context of the business strategy that
it needs to support, which is how most IT planning is done.
48.
According to a survey of business leaders by Diamond Management &
Technology Consultants, 87 percent
believe that IT is critical to their companies' strategic success, but few
business leaders work with IT to achieve that success.
49. Both
IT and organizational strategies are static and can be harmed when people
resist change because IS success depends on the skills and cooperation of
people.
50. Business strategy sets the overall
direction for the business; while the IT
strategy defines what information, ISs, and architecture are
needed to support the business and how infrastructure and services are
to be delivered.
51.
Ultimately, it is the CIO’s duty to insure that IT and other critical
activities are effectively governed.
52. IT
plays a pivotal role in improving corporate governance practices because most
critical business processes are automated; and managers rely on information
provided by these processes for their decision making.
53. A
prerequisite for effective IT–business alignment for the CIO to understand the
latest technologies and for the CEO and business planners to understand
competitors.
54. The
IT planning process results in a formal IT strategy or a re-assessment each
year or each quarter of the existing portfolio of IT resources.
55. The long-range IT plan, sometimes referred to as the strategic
IT plan, is based on the strategic outsourcing plan.
56. In
reality, because of the rapid pace of change in IT and the environment, short-term IT tactical plans may
include major items not anticipated in the longer term IT plans.
57. An
advantage of business service management software tools is that they provide
real-time
dashboard views for tracking KPIs at the executive, functional, and operations
levels.
58. IT
is an enabler of core competencies or competitive strengths; and it is
complex, expensive, and constantly changing.
59.
Since the late 1980s, many organizations have outsourced the majority of
their IT functions, rather than just incidental parts to cut costs or
manage the complexity of IT.
60.
Risks associated with outsourcing are minimal because of service level
agreements.
