Chapter 5 : Organizational Structures that Support Strategic Initiatives

Recent IT- related strategic positions :

• Chief Information Officer (CIO)                                                                                           Oversees all uses of IT and ensures the strategic alignment of IT with business goals and objectives.

Broad CIO functions include :

=> manager.

=>leader.

=>communicator.

• Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

Responsible for ensuring the throughput, speed, accuracy, availability, and reliability of IT.

• Chief Security Officer (CSO)

Responsible for ensuring the security of IT systems.

• Chief Privacy Officer (CPO)

Responsible for ensuring the ethical and legal use of information.

• Chief Knowledge Office (CKO)

Responsible for collecting, maintaining, and distributing the organization's knowledge.

The Gap Between Business Personnel and IT Personnel :

• Business personnel possess expertise in functional areas such as marketing, accounting, and sales.
• IT personnel have the technological expertise.
• This typically causes a communications gap between the business personnel and IT personnel. 
• Business personnel must seek to increase their understanding of the business.
• It is the responsibility of the CIO to ensure effective communication between business personnel and IT personnel.

Ethics :

The principles and standards that guide our behavior toward other people.

• Privacy ( major ethical issue )                                                                                                       The right to be left alone when you want to be, to have control over your own personal possessions, and not to be observed without your consent.
• Issues affected by technology advances :                                                                                      => intellectual property - intangible creative work that is embodied in physical form.                  => copyright - the legal protection afforded an expression of an idea, such as a song, video              games, and some types of proprietary documents.                                                                    => fair use doctrine - in certain situations, it is legal to use copyrighted material.                        => pirated software - the unauthorized use, duplication, or sale of copyrighted software.            => counterfeit software - software that is manufactured to look like real thing.

Security :

The protection of information from accidental or intentional misuse by persons inside or outside an organization.