Achieving Business Value from Technology: A Practical Guide for Today's Executive

From the Publisher: Achieving Business Value from Technology offers the expert guidance, real-world advice, and practical methodology managers need to ensure that their dollars aren’t wasted on IT disasters. It shows them how to assess projects in real time and decide whether to alter, abandon, or continue them with a clear understanding of likely impact on the business. With the increasing importance of technology in a business world redefined by globalization, high-octane competition, and the shift from mass production to mass customization, it’s more important than ever that your IT dollars are well spent in pursuit of efficiency, adaptability, and market mobility. Knowing which initiatives offer real business value can be the competitive advantage your business needs to thrive. Simply put, no matter what your business is, IT is your business. Achieving Business Value from Technology offers proven techniques, methodologies, governance mechanisms, and best practice guidelines to guarantee your money is transforming your current IT setup from potential value to real value. The approach offered in this book–and developed by the experts in Gartner’s Consulting and Measurement practices–has been proven to help managers make the right IT decisions every time. Author Tony Murphy outlines a systematic process managers can use to identify, track, and realize benefits and value from their IT investments. This methodology helps management bridge the traditional gap between the business and IT sides of the organization and incorporates IT value metrics into conventional management reporting systems. Managers will learn to monitor opportunities, risks, and impediments at allstages of the investment cycle and rest assured that the money they invest in IT will bring long-lasting and measurable benefits to the organization. The author also provides guidelines for undertaking post-implementation benefit audits and IT sourcing, as well as tips and techniques for optimizing asset management and minimizing ongoing total cost of ownership. Author Biography: TONY MURPHY,PhD, is a Vice President in Consulting and a thought-leader in the field of IT investment appraisal and benefits realization at Gartner, Inc., the world’s largest technology research organization. With nearly thirty years’ experience as CIO, software developer, project manager, consultant, and university lecturer, Tony is a sought-after advisor to many of the world’s leading corporations and public sector bodies. In addition, he has played an active role in the development of the Irish software industry and is a former vice president of the Irish Computer Society.