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 Business‑  alignment 

IS strategy

The IS strategy is 

generated from the 

business strategy through 

techniques such as CSF 

analysis.

 Business‑  impacting 

IS strategy

IS strategy analyses 

opportunities for new 

technologies and 

processes to favourably 

impact the business 

strategy.

Chapter 5  Digital business strategy

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Part 2  Strategy and applications

The impacting approach may also involve redesigning business processes to integrate with 

partners. Sultan and Rohm (2004), based on a study of three organisations, identify different 

forms of aligning Internet strategies with business goals, with their framework identifying 

these strategic objectives:

● 

Cost reduction and value chain efficiencies. For example, B2B supplier AB Dick used the 

Internet to sell printer supplies via the Internet to reduce service calls.

● 

Revenue generation. Reebok uses the Internet for direct licensed sales of products such as 

treadmills which do not have strong distribution deals.

● 

Channel partnership. Partnering with distributors using extranets.

● 

Communications and branding. Car company Saturn developed the MySaturn site to fos-

ter close relationships with customers.

Value chain analysis (Chapter 6, p. 268) can be used for the impact approach. For example, 

this might identify the need for e-procurement which can be used as part of an effort to 

reduce costs and increase efficiency as part of business strategy. This technique has merit in 

that it not only considers internal use of information systems, but also how they can be used 

to integrate with external organisations such as suppliers, perhaps through innovative meth-

ods such as marketplace exchanges.

The impact and alignment techniques need not be mutually exclusive. During initial 

development of an digital business strategy, a  business-  alignment approach can be applied to 

ensure that IS strategy supports digital business strategy. A  business-  impacting approach is 

also useful to see which new opportunities IS produce. For instance, managers could consider 

how a relatively new technology such as workflow management software (Chapter 11, p. 524) 

can be used to improve efficiency and customer service.

Perhaps the ultimate expression of using IS to impact business per-

formance is through business process re-engineering (considered in 

Chapter 10).

The application of an impacting or aligning strategy with respect to 

IS and business strategy is dependent on the importance attached to IS 

within an organisation.