The Real Business of It Lib/E: How Cios Create and Communicate Value

If you're a general manager or CFO, do you feel you're spending too much on IT or wishing you could get better returns from your IT investments? If so, it's time to examine what's behind this IT-as-cost mind-set. In The Real Business of IT, Richard Hunter and George Westerman reveal that the cost mind-set stems from IT leaders' inability to communicate about the business value they create--so CIOs get stuck discussing budgets rather than their contributions to the organization. The authors explain how IT leaders can combat this mind-set by first using information technology to generate three forms of value important to leaders throughout the organization: ● Value for money when your IT department operates efficiently and effectively ● An investment in business performance evidenced when IT helps divisions, units, and departments boost profitability ● Personal value of CIOs as leaders whose contributions to their enterprise go well beyond their area of specialization The authors show how to communicate about these forms of value with non-IT leaders--so they understand how your firm is benefiting and see IT as the strategic powerhouse it truly is.

About the Author :
George Westerman is a research scientist with the MIT Sloan Initiative on the Digital Economy. His research and teaching focus on digital technology leadership and innovation. The award-winning author of three books and dozens of other contributions, he helps senior executives drive new competitive advantage through technology. Peter Lerman is a narrator from the heart of New York City: Brooklyn born and raised. Manhattan and Brooklyn were suffused with the flavors and sounds of the entire world. He tasted it all and heard it all. When you come of age in NYC, nothing is foreign. When you hear a low grumble in his voice on occasion, it is authentic. His first wife told him that he loved her not nearly as much as he loved the sound of his own voice. This made him wonder if other people might love the sound of his voice as well. And so, a narrator was born. Also, an amateur thespian, a trade show presenter, a lecturer, an off-key cabaret singer, and an inveterate teller of jokes one does not tell in mixed company. Peter has been a professional photographer in New York City, owned a model and talent management company, and knocked around from Brooklyn to Manhattan and back again only to wind up in Connecticut. His breath control is fabulous because he is also a board certified respiratory therapist. He has appeared onstage as Horace Vandergelder in Hello Dolly, Gangster #2 in Kiss Me Kate, Bobby Gould in Speed-the-Plow, the Governor of Texas in Best Little Whorehouse . . ., Jonathan Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace, and Lenny in Rumors. The voice is deep and resonant. Sometimes formal, sometimes not. Never stale. Always eminently listenable. Richard Hunter is vice president and Gartner Fellow at Gartner, Inc., where his recent work has focused on matters of interest to CIOs. Hunter is the author of World Without Secrets: Business, Crime and Privacy in the Age of Ubiquitous Computing, IT Risk: Turning Business Threats Into Competitive Advantage, and The Real Business of IT: How CIOs Create and Communicate Value, the latter two works with coauthor George Westerman. He is in much demand as a speaker and advisor to CIOs. Mr. Hunter was elected a Gartner Fellow in 2003. He holds a bachelor's degree in music from Harvard University. He is a world-class harmonica player who continues to compose and perform; his first book, Jazz Harp, has been in continuous print since 1980, and is the world's best-selling method for jazz and rock harmonica players.