Strategic is planning in UK organisations: Current approaches and their relative success

A study is reported into strategic IS planning (SISP) in UK organisations. The core data is derived from 70 UK organisations across private and public sectors. The study developed prior work by Earl (1993) and Segars & Grover (1999) who found that organisations used a small number of SISP approaches each with differing levels of success. This study broadly confirmed these earlier findings but suggested that SISP approaches are evolving. Cluster analysis revealed that the UK organisations surveyed currently employ five broad approaches to SISP, 1) Administrative, 2) Technological, 3) IS Function Led, 4) Organisational, and 5) Comprehensive. The first four approaches were identified in a similar form by the prior research. A fifth approach labelled methods driven was not found in this study and is assumed to have waned in usage. This study found a new comprehensive approach that combines and balances other SISP approaches and delivers higher levels of SISP success. Earl had proposed that were organisations to employ such an approach that superior results could result and this proposition is supported. This finding is important for research and emphasises the need to continue to investigate the SISP field to capture changes in practice. For practitioners, it provides early evidence of another approach for IS strategy formulation that is capable of delivering superior levels of success.