For this assignment, you$$re a senior IT manager at Reynolds Tool & Die. You have been asked to write a $3-$page plan detailing how you will create a culture of innovation in IT operations and integrate IT innovation into long$-$range strategic planning. Your proposal should include recommendations for specific technology innovations and explain how you expect these innovations to drive business success over time. This assignment requires you to analyze the company$$s goals; analyze how IT innovation can contribute to those goals and how the current environment might be able to support innovation. After you have completed your analyses, you will synthesize all of this information into a longrange IT plan focusing on innovation. Specifically, your plan needs to address two things: $1.$ What IS innovations can you propose that align with the strategic long$-$range plans of both IT and the organization? $2.$ How can you create a culture of innovation within your IT organization? Headings should be as follows: I.Long$-$range, Innovative Solutions Planning Consider this a wish list. What innovative technologies will you propose to help Reynolds accomplish its long$-$range goals? For example, does artificial intelligence have a place in the organization? Big Data? What about next$-$generation cloud technologies? How will mobility $($related to mobile devices$)$ fit into your planning? II$.$Creating a Culture of Innovation in the IT Organization To implement creative solutions, you need an innovative team. Going forward, you$$ll want to hire the right people and train them the right way. You already have staff who have been doing things a specific way, and you need to create a culture of innovation throughout the organization. How will you do that? Some areas to address are:

i$.$IT Staffing and Training

Does your current staff have the right skill sets? What skill sets will they need to add to be innovative? What are the potential budget considerations for ongoing training? ii$.$R&D Can you make the case for research and development $($R&D$)$ within Reynolds$$ IT organization? R&D isn$$t synonymous with product development; it$$s a function tasked with pursuing forward$-$thinking, innovative strategies, even strategies that the business doesn$$t expect to pay off in the short term but hopes will pay off eventually in the long term.