Information Systems Management

Shankar Venkatagiri

Organizations across the world shall be spending over USD 3.8 trillion on IT during
FY 2019, according to Gartner’s projections 1. Think about it – this amount is nearly a
fifth of all of Europe’s GDP! Gartner categorizes this spending as communications
services (telecom), IT services (consulting, automation), devices (PC, mobile),
software and data center systems.

While there has been some skepticism about the returns from such spending on IT
(see Nicholas Carr’s IT Doesn’t Matter), there are solid testaments to the power of IT
by industry stalwarts (see Robert Metcalfe’s Why IT Matters), who assert that the
investments do carry strategic value, and continue to enhance the firm’s competitive
advantage in the marketplace.

As Carr suggests, vendors tend to dictate a firm’s IT strategy, when the buyers do not
fully comprehend, and hence cannot assess the merit of their solutions. There are
famous instances of failures and even company takedowns due to bad IT decisions.
Therefore, it is imperative that managers make informed choices about their firm’s
investments in IT and ensure that they deliver the desired outcomes.

Over time, employees build their experience with an IT platform and incorporate its
capabilities into decision-making processes. Unlike a tablet or PC, an enterprise-level
IT solution should not be considered in isolation. Implementing the solution involves
seeking buy-in from a varied set of stakeholders, who may be wedded to the existing
ways of functioning. Mergers and acquisitions are particularly stressful on employees
that must manage disparate information systems.

Cloud computing has begun to shift IT systems out of the company premises and
shorten the time frame to implement key capabilities such as order processing and
sales force management. As Gartner points out, the older ownership model has given
way to a services model. Start-up firms that do not have to invest in IT infrastructure
can take on powerful incumbents, whose solutions might be costlier.

Two movements have taken hold in the 21st century. The Internet of Things (IoT) has
ushered in a digital revolution in which devices intelligently coordinate and monitor a
wide range of products, from windmills to trains. Second, blockchain technologies
have a disruptive potential to bring transparency to transactions of any kind, be it
financial or electoral.

Course Objective
The objective of this module is to provide participants with a deep understanding of
the vast landscape of IT, so they can offer better guidance to their managements on
their IT investments and formulate strategies to thrive in a digital world.

Delivery
1
https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2018-10-17-gartner-says-global-it-spending-to-
grow-3-2-percent-in-2019
The module will be conducted over 10 sessions of 75 minutes each.

Sessio Topic/Activity Reading

n
1-2 Digital Transformation
Case: AccorHotels
3-4 Information strategy
Case: WhatsApp
5-6 Merging enterprise systems
Case: Unity Bank
7 AI-driven disintermediation
Case: EdGE Networks
8 Internet of Things
9-10 Blockchain
 Dubois, David, et al. AccorHotels
and digital transformation: INSEAD
Business School (2016).
 Collis, David, Ashley Hartman, and
Aakash Mehta. $19 B 4 txt app
WhatsApp... omg! Harvard Business
School Press (2015)
 Haggerty, N.R.D. and Fong, J. Unity
Bank: Realizing value from an M&A
integration. Ivey Publishing
 Dutta, D. and Venkatagiri, S. EdGE
Networks. IIMB-HBP (2017)
 Iansiti, M, and Lakhani, K.R. Digital
ubiquity: Sloan Management Review
(November 2014)
 Iansiti, M., & Lakhani, K. R. (2017). The
truth about blockchain. Harvard
Business Review, 95(1), 118-127

Instructor Bio

SHANKAR VENKATAGIRI
Associate Professor
Information Systems
Indian Institute of Management Bangalore

Shankar Venkatagiri is a faculty member associated with the Decision Sciences &
Information Systems area at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. He has
been with the Institute since 2002.

Shankar began his professional career with Sapient Corporation, Cambridge MA

where he consulted with energy and healthcare clients. He then developed Internet
applications at Curl, an MIT start-up. Next, he moved to Reuters Consulting, where
he worked with financial institutions in the role of a solutions architect.

Shankar interests lie in big data analytics, healthcare, and digital learning. His writing
focuses on the realities of Indian IT industry and the government sector. His cases
have been published via the Harvard and Ivey repositories. He trains and consults
with companies on analytics, negotiation skills and agile methods.

Shankar holds a doctorate in mathematics and a masters degree in computer science

from Georgia Tech. He is also an alumnus of the University of Southern California
and IIT Kharagpur.