Abstract
The continuing growth of business activities in companies has been in parallel with the increased use of IT to support the basic business processes and assist in generating further commercial advantages for the organization. Business growth has been generated through a natural expansion of the core activities, acquisition of other companies which has often resulted in working practices of geographically separated organizations, divisions and subsidiaries maintained to preserve their successful business culture. The role of the central IT department as the most cost-effective organization to support the business led use of IT is now in question in many companies.
In this paper we present the argument that the key to corporate success is associated with the effective management of IT. In many cases, this will require a new style of management with vision and commitment from the CEO. But for those organizations who do not make this change, their corporate prosperity may be at stake.
The material described in this paper formed the basis of the 1992 AIT lecture at the City University Business School.
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