A strategic information system planning is an area of critical concern among managers in financial institutions. Information systems strategies have enterprise-wide relevance and a high business impact hence the need to develop reliable strategic information System Plan. A bank's strategic information systems plan ensures that the firm’s IT investments are aligned with the entire business strategy. A well-designed information system strategic plan will give a bank competitive advantage over others, improves the productivity and performance of the employees, and also help the bank develop new businesses.
For a bank to gain the associated benefits, they need to be competitive in four areas. These fields include a proper technology strategy, Organizational structure and accountabilities, bank strategy development process and information system Responsibilities, and policies (Pita, Cheong & Corbitt, 2010). The banking industry is information-intensive and highly dependent on the information systems as a core component of efficient service delivery.
The banking sector has different critical activities that require being included in any strategic information system plan. These areas include:
Product development: Population and demographic factors keep on changing. The evolution of customer demands requires new products to be developed. Banks analyze the existing products against customer demands and launch new products across all the branches. The process of devising a new product can be rigorous and time-consuming. If the product development takes too long, the competitors will take advantage. At the same time if inadequate information is passed to employees at different branches the bank risk losing business and money. Information systems are used to ease the process of decision making. Decision support making systems help the managers to make a decision on which new products will do well in the market. Decision support systems are knowledge base systems that store prior information on different scenarios and different results. Managers do not need to analyze massive volumes of data to come up with the best products to roll out. The system does the necessary analysis and proposes the possible improvements or reductions that are necessary to improve the available products. Through the use of the management information systems, managers can cut decision-making period, which give the bank competitive advantage over others.
Sales and marketing: once products are developed it is critical for banks to market and avail them to different customers. The marketing department is essential in any bank. Technology has made commercialization of different product easier and cheaper to undertake. For a long time, banks have relied on the mainstream media to promote their products. Technological advancement has however changed this. Social media emails and short messages have also been adopted as a way of creating customer awareness. Most of the banking systems are integrated with these media making broadcasting of information cheaper and accessible to the larger population.
Operations and service delivery: internal banking transactions that include the opening of a client account, debiting, and crediting of different customer accounts are fundamental processes in any bank. The operations are achieved through customers visiting a physical branch where a teller assists a client, or a customer uses automated teller machines to access services. The two approaches have for long been associated with a lot of inconveniences that result from the long queues due to few service points. Use of technology has however changed how a bank delivers services. Through the use of internet banking, mobile banking and agency banking services have been brought closer to customers.
Performance monitoring: the bank management needs to have a mechanism for ensuring efficient service delivery. Different department and branches have set targets to meet. Technology has provided tools for monitoring the various market parameters that affect performance. Through the use of banking information systems, the management can monitor individual employee performance. They can also evaluate individual branch performance and make appropriate management decisions. Information gained from such performance evaluation tools can be used to determine which branches to retain and which one to close down. Closing down underperforming branches helps the bank to maintain a lean staff which leads to increased profitability. Performance monitoring tools help the bank in risk analysis reducing the probability of the bank losing money or business due to engagement in risky business activities. Performance tools have also been used in reducing the risk of losing money through fraudulent activities as the inbuilt tools can raise alerts when suspicious activities are detected.
Strategic Information System Plan
Mission: the mission of the strategic information systems plan is to add value to the banks products through faster delivery of services in a cost-effective way. The strategic plan will place main emphasis on the following:
Maximize the productivity of the bank staff.
Provide quality services to the bank customers.
Minimize the cost and complexities of banking processes.
Help the bank attract and retain highly skilled staff.
Assist the banks attract and retain new customers
Innovations to promote access to bank service from anywhere.
Improve bank resource utilization management
Improve infrastructure stability system reliability
Develop green Banking through reduced paperwork.
The detailed information systems plan
Short-term objectives
Training of the banking staff to equip them with the content of the strategic plan. Employee training will promote ownership of the strategic plan and hence make it easier for the employees to implement the plan.
Development and implementation of the share resource policies to guide how resources will be shared.
Education of customers to boost acceptance and adoption of the internet and mobile banking services.
Initial backup services can be provided through leasing of facilities.
Long term objective
Investment in redundant infrastructure and personal cloud services will help achieve reliable network connectivity and systems stability. Resource ownership will reduce the cost incurred in leasing and ensure quality service delivery.
The bank in future will need to recruit staff with relevant skill. Staff with appropriate skill will reduce the cost of training.
Adoptions of appropriate strategic information systems plans lead to reduced cost of doing business. This is as a result of a reduction in transaction costs, lean staff as a result of improved employee’s efficiency, reduced infrastructure cost, and reduced systems down times. All these factors lead to improved customer service delivery. However, high-quality services create a competitive advantage over other banks. Banking depends on customer trust to grow their client-base. Improved service delivery builds client loyalty that in turn secures a bank's continued growth.
In general, the banking industry needs to develop platforms that are uniform, this way banking services can be shared across different outlet despite being offered by different banks. The Visa and MasterCard services provide a cross-platform for unified money access from a pool number of access points. A similar approach should be adopted in mobile and internet banking. Integration of mobile and internet banking services will reduce the cost of doing business due to reduced number of staff and improved efficiency.
References
Pita, Z.,Cheong, F., & Corbitt, B. (2010). Strategic Information Systems Planning (SISP). International Journal for Strategic Decision Sciences, 1(2), 28-61. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/jsds.2010040102
