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The Information Paradox

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The Information Paradox

Realizing the Business Benefits of Information Technology

McGraw-Hill,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Text available

What's inside?

Before you blame your IT department for the latest useless system, ask yourself this: Do the senior executives signing off on your IT initiatives have any idea what they’re getting?

Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

John Thorp’s book recalls Mark Twain’s definition of a classic as "a book you want to have read but don’t want to read." If you’re an executive with control over your company’s information technology purse stings, you probably don’t want to read a book this detailed in the intricacies of IT, which is exactly the reason that you should. Thorp’s initial premise is that many IT investments never pan out in part because the people that are signing off on them have absolutely no idea what to expect. This book will give you a clue, but don’t expect to enjoy it. It’s dense with IT terminology, change and program management strategies and valuation techniques. getabstract recommends this book to all of you professionals who know that you need a better understanding of information technology, even if you won’t admit it. Don’t put off reading this book, no matter how much you’d like to.

Summary

Why Can’t I Get Any Information From My IT Department?

Investment in information technology today far outpaces anything in modern business history, and the transformation of business by information technology is only beginning. But although IT expenditures have grown 20% to 30% per year for the last 20 years, economists remain divided about the degree to which this has enhanced productivity.

However, the information paradox referred to in the title of this book isn’t the fact that you can never get information from your IT department. Rather, it’s that most investments in information technology are made by executives who don’t have any idea what kind of returns they can expect to receive. This paradox is related to Pareto’s Law, which states that 80% of productivity returns come from 20% of all IT investments. If expenditure on information technology was more accurately aligned with functional need, every organization would get a lot more for its IT dollar. Management’s dilemma is determining how to invest efficiently in IT development. The simple solution: Verify the value of new information technologies prior to buying them.

Silver-Bullet Thinking

Thinking...

About the Author

John Thorp is vice president of the DMR Consulting Group’s Strategic Consulting Practice. He is a management consultant and frequent speaker with more than 35 years of IT experience. DMR is a leading provider of IT services to businesses and other organizations. Thorp lives in Victoria, B.C., Canada.

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    g. h. 1 decade ago
    The summary was well written and organized, but having read this book before reading the summary, I was suprised, and disappointed, that the summary left out a few key concepts from the book which in my opinion shoud have been included in the summary. The summary reads as though it's focused on project and or portfolio management (PPM), when in fact PPM is only one component mentioned. The book is about maximimizing IT's contribution to the organization and how to re-focus IT investments with business strategy. In addition, to focus on continuous improvement using the Four Ares which was never mentioned in the summary.