Strategic management of information technology in small and medium sized electric utilities: bridging the gap between theory and practice

This paper proposes a novel, alternative approach for strategic information systems/information technology (IS/IT) planning in small and medium-sized enterprises, which is less comprehensive and more flexible than most present strategic information systems planning methodologies, thus attempting to bridge the gap between theory and practice. The approach is implementation-centric and based on a framework in which an architectural lifecycle model for Enterprise Information Systems Architecture (EISA) is used as the common conceptual model. Furthermore, the proposed planning process is iterative and the rationale for this is the need to support the gradually increasing awareness, as well as to tackle the ever-changing technical and business requirements that an enterprise information system ultimately must comply with. Although it starts with the business vision, the developed enterprise information system architectural alternatives are made possible, even suggested, by emerging technologies, such as the impact of the Internet