Review of It Strategy at World Bank
Review of IT Strategy at World Bank The World Bank is a multi-national organization that operates in over 180 countries. Barriers such as connectivity, cultural differences, time zones, knowledge levels, and resources available exist for World Bank because they have clients in so many different locations around the world. World Bank has a hierarchal structure with a centralized headquarters in Washington, D.C and several more independent branches. Due to the operations limited by independent branches, client interactions were limited, communications needed improvement, and important business meetings were limited by the difficulties and expenses of worldwide travel. Mohamed Muhsin, World Bank’s CIO had two key questions he wanted to address: how could IT help the core business serve its clients better, and how could World Bank measure and communicate the value that IT contributes to the business (McFarlan & Delacey, 2003). The overall solution was decentralization, the creation of a knowledge bank, and to establish a matrix of regions and networks (Musin, 2003). Finally, as with all organizational change, an underlying challenge that World Bank also faced was the bank personnel’s resistance to all of the new policies and operational vicissitude.
Background
World Bank provides more than just financing, it also provides knowledge services that include investments in education, health, public administration, infrastructure, financial and private sector development, agriculture and environmental and natural resource management (The World Bank Group, 2012). The organization’s most important goal is to reduce worldwide poverty through a diversified employee base and a staff that is committed to helping less fortunate nations through resources and knowledge sharing. To begin, World Bank supported their mission by providing three IT services. First, they provided a basic-service package that included the standard network infrastructure, to include
Background
World Bank provides more than just financing, it also provides knowledge services that include investments in education, health, public administration, infrastructure, financial and private sector development, agriculture and environmental and natural resource management (The World Bank Group, 2012). The organization’s most important goal is to reduce worldwide poverty through a diversified employee base and a staff that is committed to helping less fortunate nations through resources and knowledge sharing. To begin, World Bank supported their mission by providing three IT services. First, they provided a basic-service package that included the standard network infrastructure, to include
References: Group, T. W. (2012, 01 19). About Us: The World Bank . Retrieved 02 05, 2012, from The World Bank Web site: http://www.worldbank.org/ McFarlan, W. F., & Delacey, B. (2003) Enabling Business Strategy with IT at World Bank. Retrieved 02 03, 2012, from www.umflint.edu/~weli/courses/bus381/worldbank.pdf Musin, M. (2003, 11 7) Enabling Business Strategy with IT at World Bank. Retrieved 02 03, 2012, from http://mohamedmuhsin.com/case-study/enabling-business-strategy-with-it-at-world-bank/