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228 Part Two Information Technology Infrastructure

to use. In a centralized infrastructure, systems can be administered from a
central location and troubleshooting can be performed from that location.

Competitive Forces Model for IT Infrastructure
Investment
Figure 5.13 illustrates a competitive forces model you can use to address the
question of how much your firm should spend on IT infrastructure.

Market demand for your firm’s services. Make an inventory of the services
you currently provide to customers, suppliers, and employees. Survey each
group, or hold focus groups to find out if the services you currently offer are
meeting the needs of each group. For example, are customers complaining of
slow responses to their queries about price and availability? Are employees
complaining about the difficulty of finding the right information for their jobs?
Are suppliers complaining about the difficulties of discovering your production
requirements?
Your firm’s business strategy. Analyze your firm’s five-year business strategy
and try to assess what new services and capabilities will be required to achieve
strategic goals.
Your firm’s IT strategy, infrastructure, and cost. Examine your firm’s infor-
mation technology plans for the next five years and assess its alignment with
the firm’s business plans. Determine the total IT infrastructure costs. You will
want to perform a TCO analysis. If your firm has no IT strategy, you will need
to devise one that takes into account the firm’s five-year strategic plan.

FIGURE 5.13 COMPETITIVE FORCES MODEL FOR IT INFRASTRUCTURE

There are six factors you can use to answer the question, “How much should our firm spend on IT infrastructure?”

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