Operational, environmental and managerial factors in non-alignment of business strategies and IS strategies for the Police Service in England and Wales

The paper examines the operational, environmental (including political and European) and managerial imperatives and forces in understanding information systems (IS) strategy formulation within the Police Service. It shows the extent to which national bodies and national databases have proliferated without any framework, because of public dislike of a national police force. It also examines the political issues that have not yet been addressed by the IS strategy. It then places the police case within a wider context and suggests that factors present in the police case may exist in commercial organizations and that these factors would help to explain failed or delayed alignment between business strategies and IS strategies.