CIS 499 Discussion Questions
Week 1 Discussion 1
“Megatrends” Please respond to the following:
• Evaluate the megatrend of demographics in the IT field. Give your opinion as to why IT managers must understand this megatrend when selecting talent for organizational positions.
• Speculate as to why the megatrend of demographics may impact the development of IT products worldwide, especially in countries with aging populations.
Week 1 Discussion 2
“IT Skills” Please respond to the following:
• While it is understood that the CIO should set the example for the IT organization, determine the top three things that the head of IT should be doing to improve the skills of the IT staff.
• Having staff with the proper skill sets is immensely important to accomplishing corporate objectives. List and support three best practices in staffing future organizational needs.
Week 2 Discussion 1
“IT Diffusion Models” Please respond to the following:
• Review the IT diffusion models, select two models, then compare and contrast how these models would facilitate a company in the country and business sector of your choice. Be sure to state your business sector. Then, explain how the IT diffusion models may affect it.
• Describe the process of how a non-IT senior manager would arrive at the decision to support one IT diffusion model over another. List the factors that would have to be considered. Determine which model you would choose and explain why.
Week 2 Discussion 2
“Strategic Alignment” Please respond to the following:
• Evaluate the approaches by company executives to align an organization for future growth and success. Give your opinion on the credibility of each approach.
• Discuss additional approaches not mentioned in the textbook that may be warranted in aligning an organization for future growth and success. Explain your response.
Week 3 Discussion 1
“IT Strategies” Please respond to the following:
• Reflect upon the IT strategies that are used to encourage economic development. Select two strategies and discuss how economic factors affect the strategies that a government may use to facilitate economic development.
• Choose the strategies that seem to be complementary to one other and could be implemented simultaneously. Justify your response.
Week 3 Discussion 2
“Strategy Methodology” Please respond to the following:
• Using the three-step process for assessing the IT organization, determine the impact of economic factors at the enterprise level for each step.
• Give your opinion as to which critical element of strategy (people, process, or technology) is the most important. Justify your answer.
Week 4 Discussion 1
“Patterns of Behavior” Please respond to the following:
• Evaluate the patterns of behavior of early adapters versus followers. Determine the pattern of behavior that leads to a competitive advantage. Justify your response.
• Give your opinion as to whether “Heat Seekers” and “Followers” could coexist within the same organization. State the negatives and positives associated with both patterns of behavior.
Week 4 Discussion 2
“Getting to Know the Industry” Please respond to the following:
• Getting to know the industry in which a company operates is a critical factor for leveraging information systems and gaining a competitive advantage. Speculate as to how information systems can be leveraged in a particular industry. Analyze how time of entry, industry trends, corporate culture, and other factors affect competitive advantage. Explain your answer.
• Evaluate the competitive applications of technology. List and describe three applications and how these can be applied to the information systems industry.
Week 5 Discussion 1
“ITPM Best Practices” Please respond to the following:
• Explain how ITPM best practices can align the IT portfolio with business requirements in order to create the greatest possible value for the organization.
• Assess the systems development life-cycle (SDLC) and explain how the life cycle, when executed properly, can maximize business value. Note: All stakeholders point of view should be considered.
Week 5 Discussion 2
“Service Delivery Models” Please respond to the following:
• Evaluate the service delivery models. Select the options that, in your opinion, are most efficient together regardless of industry. Additionally, select the models that work best in particular industries. Justify your response.
• Determine how a company’s selection of a Service Delivery Model could impact business value. Provide an example to justify your response.
Week 6 Discussion 1
“The New Beginning and Prototyping” Please respond to the following:
• Give your opinion on what Thomas L. Friedman is referring to with the words, “Now the real IT revolution is about to begin.” Discuss how the beginning, referred to by Friedman, is different from the last couple of decades.
• Evaluate prototyping as a technique for gathering quality business requirements. Determine the approach to prototyping that would be better suited for emerging technology projects. Determine if a combination of prototyping approaches would be more efficient. Explain your answer.
Week 6 Discussion 2
“Risk Management” Please respond to the following:
• Determine why project risk management is a key component to bringing a project to a successful conclusion. Include an example to support your answer.
• Reflecting upon your example, describe the relationship between project risk management and cost estimation.
Week 7 Discussion 1
“Expertise as a Factor” Please respond to the following:
• Discuss how the expertise of the practitioners and researchers (computer scientists, engineers, mathematicians) may affect IS integration.
• Select three issues from the “Issues That Make Forecasting the Future Difficult for Industries and Governments” from Chapter 7 of the Cortada textbook. Then, describe how each could impact integration.
Week 7 Discussion 2
“Project Quality and Compliance” Please respond to the following:
• List three aspects of managing project quality that should always be considered to achieve project success. Provide a rationale for your selection.
• Evaluate regulatory, procedural / policy, and security compliance outlined in Chapter 20 of the Lane textbook. Choose one category and then describe the relationship that exists between adherence and successful project integration.
Week 8 Discussion 1
“Outsourcing” Please respond to the following:
• Evaluate the reasons to outsource goods, services, or production. Considering today’s business climate, give your opinion on the most logical reason to outsource.
• From the e-Activity, list three valid reasons why a company would pursue onshoring or insourcing. Include an example to justify your response.
Week 8 Discussion 2
“Scoring System” Please respond to the following:
• Imagine you have been tasked to select a scoring system to rank each project in consideration in IT portfolio management. Review each ranking option and then select the one you believe is the most efficient for ranking each proposed project. Provide a rationale for your selection.
• Identify other considerations that would be of value in ranking a project, and explain why you believe they are valuable.
Week 9 Discussion 1
“The World Is Flat” Please respond to the following:
• In 2006, Thomas Friedman authored a book entitled, The World Is Flat. Since that time many people have adopted a global perspective to business. Determine the security concerns that are raised by the flattening of the technological landscape. Explain your answer.
• ist and explain three ethical concerns that may be argued from this flattening of the technological landscape.
Week 9 Discussion 2
“Ethics and Security” Please respond to the following:
• Organizational end users are generally in the background when it comes to protecting the IT infrastructure. As the chief security officer (CSO), develop a security awareness training communication plan for these users. Your plan must be in nontechnical terms to the user population that incorporates the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the organization’s information assets.
• Give your opinion as to whether ethics training and security training should be conducted together within an organization. Explain your answer.
Week 10 Discussion 1
“Value” Please respond to the following:
• Assess BCP as a process that adds business value. Give your opinion on whether or not the argument that states BCP adds value is a credible argument. Explain why or why not.
• Speculate the strategic values that could be realized by having an effective BCP. Provide a rationale for your answer.
Week 10 Discussion 2
“Cloud Computing” Please respond to the following:
• Evaluate the benefits of cloud computing for modern and legacy organizations looking to migrate to the cloud. Support the use of cloud computing as a viable option within an organizational business continuity strategy.
• Identify the drawbacks for using cloud computing in your BCP. Determine the strategies you would use to mitigate the drawbacks if you were the IT manager in charge of the decision. Provide a rationale for your answer.
Week 11 Discussion 1
“Course Summation” Please respond to the following:
• Describe the most important piece of knowledge that you gained during this course.
• Discuss ways you plan to apply what you learned in this course in your current or future position.
Week 11 Discussion 2
“Role of CIO” Please respond to the following:
• The role of CIO is the most influential capacity in the IT organization. Identify what you believe are the most important characteristics and qualities of successful CIOs.
• Of the characteristics and qualities you identified above, reflect on those you have and those you still need to acquire in your professional career.
