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Management Information Systems

Notes Introduction

The importance of Information Technology (IT) infrastructure is recognized more and more
within companies and corporations. In addition to the increasing interest shown for IT
infrastructure by practitioners, the academic literature abounds with research and studies related
to the topic. The sooner companies realize the importance of building and leveraging IT
infrastructure, the better will be the value and higher the return they can capitalize on. But what
is IT infrastructure, actually? Firm-wide centrally coordinated IT infrastructure consists of
technology components (such as communication technology and data) which individuals with
technical and managerial competence use to produce standard and shared services. These services
are then provided for shared and standard, firm-wide and business-specific applications, at the
service levels required, according to standards defined in the IT architecture. It is understood, of
course, that the flexibility of IT infrastructure and the securing of compatibility within and
between the IT infrastructures of business units, industry and the public must also be arranged.
This study, however, is delimited to firm-wide IT infrastructure.

5.1 IT Infrastructure

IT infrastructure is a complex entity, which explains over 50% of the IT budget of a typical
organization, and the percentage is growing at a rate of 11% every year. However, defining the
actual monetary value produced by IT infrastructure is difficult, even though its importance can
be described in many ways, as a source of competitive advantage.
For example, One field of interest is the description of the properties of infrastructure as an
explanation of its worth.
Despite the fact that IT infrastructure is ever more widely described and presented in an increasing
number of academic articles, a more coherent and consistent view is still needed.

For example, it is used in a number of diverse and often inconsistent ways in current literature,
which negates much of the seeming unity of concepts used. The objective of this paper is to offer
a new, comprehensive model which combines the elements of IT infrastructure explained in
different ways and emphasized to different degrees in previous studies.
IT infrastructure, as a separate element, is now more widely recognized than before and many
justifications are used to describe its importance. On the basis of an analysis and synthesis of the
definitions and purposes of IT infrastructure found in the literature review, IT infrastructure is
seen to serve the following purposes:
 Forms a (technical and human) basis for business and business applications.
 Holds, routes, assembles and shares information, satisfying business and management
needs for reducing costs and increasing efficiency.
 Enables the planning and modifications of business processes, supports the emergence of
new organizational forms, improves connectivity among interest groups and helps
globalization.
 Fosters the attainment of sustainable competitive advantage as a core competence of the
firm, and, as a flexible platform, enables rapid new implementation of innovations and
cost effective modifications of existing applications.

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