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The IT Value Stack

A Boardroom Guide to IT Leadership

Ade McCormack

Wiley, 2008

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Many business people think their information technology colleagues are geeks who speak a language no one else understands. Conversely, many IT people think they are above their technologically ignorant business colleagues. Ade McCormack, IT advisor and columnist for the Financial Times, is convinced that bridging the gap between IT and business is crucial if you want your company to be able to compete in the future. He says IT will continue to become a more and more important competitive factor. He urges business people to learn more about IT and vice versa. getAbstract recommends this step-by-step plan for integrating your company’s IT functions into its strategic and tactical business operations. In every chapter, McCormack analyzes the status quo, the obstacles and the steps you need to take and includes contributions from leading players in the end user, technology and advisory arenas. Meanwhile, he sets a good example by writing in a style – including some tongue-in-cheek asides – that IT and non-IT people will find equally accessible.

Summary

The Business Versus IT Conflict

Information technology has a poor reputation in most boardrooms. Many executives believe that it sucks up money and that IT people use funny words and look down on the business that pays them. If your IT people are socially awkward, love technology for its own sake and think that they are above mere business concerns, then they deserve their poor reputation. Like most firms, your company probably has spent a significant amount of money and time on IT projects that yielded nothing. IT management suffers from a lack of metrics. How do you assign numbers to its accomplishments? Many companies end up measuring IT by how much it costs and how many problems they need IT to fix.