Draining the swamp: Defining strategic use of the information systems resource

Abstract There has been a great deal of discussion in information systems (IS) journals and elsewhere on strategic use of the IS resource. These discussions describe very diferent views of what is meant by strategic IS use. This paper clarifies the concept of strategic use of the IS resource and identifies the issues to address in using the IS resource as a strategic business factor. A model is presented to help distinguish among the differing uses of the term “strategic use of the IS resource” and to guide executives and IS managers in choosing among the many alternatives in using IS strategically.

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