Information technology deployment model: A tool for business sustainability in power generation sector

Business Sustainability seeks to create a long-term stakeholder value by capturing the opportunities and managing the challenges. Business sustainability can be achieved through business strategy, operations management, environmental management, accounting and finance, organizational behaviour, etc. But in case of Power generating companies, sustainability can be achieved through traditional practices that are widely applied, along with the knowledge of innovative and advanced practices in information and communication technology (ICT). There are different ways to decide on the deployment of Information Technology (IT) in a Power Generation organization, when it comes to make a decision based on the likely impact of the investment on the performance of the enterprise. IT deployment Model intends to address the following questions: Deployment Strategy which indicates the IT systems that should be deployed for achieving the business objectives. Deployment Approach is about the coverage, processes and approach for deployment and Deployment Phasing which indicates when the IT systems should be deployed. The model is formulated by using the strategic requirements of Power generation companies, operational requirements, the strategic and operational challenges facing the Power generation companies. While developing the models for deployment of IT systems for power generation sector, the researcher has used the finding of the data from a state owned Power Generation sector to draw up the possibilities in the operational excellence area. The possibilities on the strategic excellence area are based more on the analysis of the structure of Indian Power Sector and study of the relevant literature. For the sake of bringing n clarity into the possible deployment models for the IT systems in a Power Generation Company, the possibilities of strategic and operational excellence are mapped into four quadrants. The four quadrants are Strategic alignment, Planning, Measurement and Analysis, Performance Improvement in Business Effectiveness and Operations and IT systems.