Devising information systems and technology evolutionary paths with IT-CMF

Abstract

The importance of Information Systems and Technology (IST) for organizations has been recognized numerous times, whether in facilitating the achievement of strategic goals, or in overcoming operational challenges, in addition to assisting managers in decision-making processes. The sustainable extraction of value from IST requires organizations to make efforts to maintain the use of IST aligned with the organization’s objectives. IT-CMF consists of a comprehensive framework to guide the evolution of an organization’s exploitation of IST in 36 management areas. Based on this framework, several evolutionary paths for the improvement of the IST capability can be derived. The prioritization and selection among the available paths may pose a problem for organizations, especially due to the intricate relationships between the different areas of intervention. In this study, we resort to Graph Theory to conduct a network analysis of IT-CMF, in order to assist organizations choosing the evolutionary path with the greatest potential for improving their use of IST, taking into account their strengths, weaknesses, and priorities.