Chapter 3
The Information Technology Asset
In Chapter Two we discussed issues, observations, and techniques associated with aligning IT initiatives with health care organization strategies. The focus of that chapter was on the relationship between the overall strategy and the IT plan. This chapter will focus on the IT asset, which includes technology, IT staff, data, and applications and is represented by the innermost circle of Figure 1.1 (IT Strategy Scope) presented in Chapter One. This focus is critical for the three reasons that follow, the second two of which will be the focus of this chapter.
First, as discussed in Chapter Two, changes to the IT asset are the central outcome of IT strategy development. An objective to improve care may ...
