In Step 1, you looked at the state of business. Now in Step 2, you will evaluate the ability of IT to meet business objectives. You should review Technology in Business and Technology Resources before moving on to Appendix D and E.

Conduct an inventory of the technology being used in your organization. The technology inventory, Appendix D, provides a structured format for identifying various technologies and their business functions. In this step, you are merely identifying the various types of technology that exist in your organization and their purpose in the organization as they relate to business functions.

Next, you will evaluate the technology for its ability to meet current and future business needs. Does your organization use software for customer relationship management (CRM)? For inventory management? For employee training? What have you learned from this assessment? Review Capabilities of IT Systems and Measuring IT Effectiveness before you continue.

Many of the technologies found in organizations are implemented to meet the needs of specific business functions. Often, they are not evaluated for their impact on the organization’s overall strategic business objectives. Use the information technology assessment worksheet, Appendix E, to document the overall state of technology in your organization. Some of the cells in the worksheet are filled in as examples. Please delete the examples before starting your work so that you begin with a blank template. Assess two or three of the most critical business functions as you identify and list the capabilities and problems or gaps that exist, being precise in your description of how each business information system contributes to the overall efficiency or performance of the business function. You will use the following five questions to guide your assessment:

• What technologies are responsible for the operation and success of the organization?
• What is the organizational structure and where does IT reside in this structure?
• Are there obvious areas where current technology is not meeting the current business needs of your organization?
• Are there inefficiencies or redundant systems?
• Are there potential vulnerabilities in the existing systems that could impact operations in the short term? What about the long term?

See Identifying Applications of Current and Potential Technologies before continuing.

Next, write a detailed assessment of the ability of technology to support key business functions in the organization. Your two-to-three-page technology assessment will consist of one or two paragraphs to address each of the five questions above. Post this along with your technology assessment worksheets to your assignment folder. Your instructor will review your work and inform you of any major weaknesses in your deliverable.above . Post this along with your technology assessment worksheets (Appendices D and E) to your assignment folder. Your instructor will review your work and inform you of any major weaknesses in your deliverable.

In the next step, you will complete a business process risk assessment for your organization.

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