The emerging sub-discipline of Global Information Technology (GIT) is also referred to within the Information Systems (IS) discipline as Global Information Technology Management, as International Information Systems, and as Global Management Information Systems.
Conclusion
Global Information Technology spending is
expected to grow rapidly, in the context of a global economic recovery and
Internet penetration into the lives of businesses and customers. Because of the
magnitude of this investment in the world market, many organizations will be
forced to evolve into global corporations all over the world. The managers that
will view these rapid changes in the global market as an opportunity rather
than a burden will have considerable payoffs. Strategically placed investments
in global information technology will provide an opportunity to increase
control and enhance coordination to their organization while opening access to
the new global market.
The size, scope, and complexity of the Global
Information Technology market will present managers with problems they never
imagined before. Managers will be forced to re-evaluate their Global
Information Technology Management and to develop Global Information Strategy,
which will help them to survive in the fast changing technology oriented global
market.
Global IT Management
The emerging sub-discipline of Global
Information Technology (GIT) is also referred to within the Information Systems
(IS) discipline as Global Information Technology Management, as International
Information Systems, and as Global Management Information Systems.
GIT encompasses multiple levels of analysis
The nation(s), or international policy-making
body.
The firm(s), the Multinational Enterprise (MNE)
or the IT vendors
The group(s) or team(s)
The individual
The technology overlay
Motivation for the Emergence of the GIT Sub-Discipline
The obvious reason the recent decades brought
about increased levels of business globalization, international trade and
competitiveness, and corresponding use of IT on a global basis including
increased systems integration and convergence.
The not-so obvious reason GIT is a result of
the traditional US-centric discipline of IS that has awoken to the practical
and intellectual needs of examining IS (and IT) in the global context, rather
than as a generic country-agnostic construct, or one in which US issues
dominate the research agenda. This is why, in part, one finds “IT country X,”
“IT (non-US firm) a in GIT...at this stage.
A third reason relates to the impact of culture
on the development, implementation and use of IT around the world. With the
move away from ethnocentrism, so increased attention is being paid to the
impacts that culture, in its myriad variations, exerts.
A study based on IS professionals charged with
managing international IS outlined a global IS research agenda with four areas
Matching global IS strategy to global business
strategy;
Issues involving the technical platform for
global IS applications;
Issues involved in international sharing of
data; and
Issues of IS projects spanning cultures.
In a “key issues” study on GIT framed out into
the following categories
Managerial/strategic,
Technological/application,
Host country social/cultural,
Host country economic,
Host country technological, and
Host country political/legal.
The choice of technology platforms (also called
the technology infrastructure) is a major dimension of global IT management.
Technology platforms required to support a global business operation must
consider include
Hardware choices,
Software choices,
Telecommunications networks, and
Computing facilities.
The management of technology platforms (also
called the technology infrastructure) is another major dimension of global IT
management. Technology platforms required to support a global business
operation must consider
Hardware
Software
Data resources
➢ Internet, intranet, extranet sites
➢ Computing facilities that support global
e-business operations
Many businesses are becoming global companies
and moving toward transnational business strategies in which they integrate the
global business activities of their subsidiaries and headquarters. This
requires that they build a global IT platform, i.e. an integrated worldwide
hardware, software and Internet- based network architecture.