Information and Knowledge Management www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-5758 (Paper) ISSN 2224-896X (Online) Vol.3, No.8, 2013 49 The Art of Value Creation with Information Technology Potentials in Business Planning – the Role Strategic Information Systems Sampson Anomah (Lecturer) (Strategic Information Systems), Department of Accountancy and Information Systems, Kumasi Polytechnic, Ghana Email: samanomah@msn.com Owusu Agyabeng (Lecturer), Department of Accountancy and Information Systems, Kumasi Polytechnic Abstract Value creation has to do with delivering products or services to clients at lower prices and as well as distinguishing the products or services from competitor in terms of improved quality, more functionalities, enhanced customer service that are clearly distinguishable from competitors’. To create effective value, entities can no longer develop a business strategy separate from IT strategy and vice versa. The fusion of business and IT strategy is increasingly one of the most dramatic developments affecting organisations today. IT strategy in business planning coincides with the role of Strategic Information Systems. ‘Strategic information systems’ is, therefore, a long term plan to combine innovative Information Technologies with up-to-date managerial skills to tap potentials in technology to cut down waste and cost to improve profitability. This article analyses the role Strategic information systems can play in realising the idea that Information technology is a potential for the creation of stakeholder value by focussing on organisations’ business processes placing the analysis in the context of Porter’s value chain. The article considers possibilities of capturing value in emerging economic environments where, due to competition, the Internet, mobile business intelligence and innovative collaboration systems and other technologies have become capabilities for achieving competitive advantage. Secondly, the paper demonstrates the technologies that organisations endeavouring to create value have striven to make it with. Key words: Information Systems, IT, Support, Strategy, Investment, Service, Profitability, Value-chain, Value creations, Collaboration, Business Intelligence, Competitive Advantage. 1.0. Introduction: Value creation is diversely described by many authorities. To be terse with it here, value creation can be explained to be all the activities in production or service in which a deliberate thinking is put to reducing, as much as possible, all unnecessary activities that increase cost of production or service so that profits are also increased. One very critical potential for achieving cost reduction and increasing productivity and efficiency is Information Technology (IT). The function that materialise IT potential is Information Systems (IS). In modern times, organizations in all sectors of industry, commerce and government, are fundamentally dependent upon Information Systems (Tanriverdi, 2006). ‘Entities can no longer develop a business strategy separate from IT/IS strategy and vice versa. Accordingly, there is a need for integration of sound business and information technology planning and the incorporation of effective finance and management controls within new systems’ (Skidmore, 2002). Information technology resources are necessary to tap strategic business opportunities in such a way that there is an impact on the organization’s products and business operations by mechanising these for better economy, efficiency, control, and effectiveness, hence creating value to both the business and its customers (Bhatt et al, 2005). Information systems strategy, therefore, has become such an integral and necessary part of the business that for the purpose of directly influencing market share, earnings, staying competitive globally and in all other aspects of marketplace profitability, it will be naïve and disastrous to ignore IS strategy (Coltman et al 2007). Michael Porter’s value chain model provides a generic template for considering an organisation’s key business processes. The underlying principle of the value chain model is that it permits organisations to focus on their internal processes. One of the key aspects of the value chain model is the recognition that organisations are more than a random collection of technology, money and people. These resources are of little value unless deployed into activities and organised into systems, which ensure products or services are produced which are valued by the final consumer (Oh & Pinsonneault, 2007). Information systems and technology resources are more valuable in achieving a business’ objectives especially when they are combined with changes in business practices and management behaviour. The firm's resources and capabilities together form its distinctive competencies that enable innovation, efficiency, quality, and customer responsiveness, all of which can be leveraged to create a cost advantage or a differentiation advantage. Thus, the business can use information systems strategy for better,