To be able to maximize your IT resources, as well as justify IT expenditures, CIO’s and other IT managers must be able to identify meaningful metrics and explain them in a way that management can understand.

The Business Value of IT: Managing Risks, Optimizing Performance, and Measuring Results solves this problem by providing practical answers to these four questions:

·         What does IT contribute to the business?

·         Why should we care about IT governance?

·         How can we best measure IT performance?

·         How do we mitigate the risks associated with change?

Learn how to maximize value in the short, medium, and long term

Leading consultants Michael D. Harris, David E. Herron, and Stasia Iwanicki share their real-world experiences to explain how you can demonstrate IT’s value, and potentially find extra value you didn’t know your IT organization creates. They also show how to apply risk management to process improvement and avoid unintended consequences of process improvement programs.

You will discover the processes necessary to prioritize your IT organization’s activities.

Identify alternative measurement frameworks.

Evaluate the best approaches to outsourcing.

Many IT organizations have successfully implemented the techniques described in this book and have proven—and even increased—their business value as a result. But why hasn’t your IT shop done so?

This work identifies the organizational and cultural obstacles you need to remove to get started on a metrics program, transform processes, change mindsets, and enhance IT performance and value. Providing unique and expert guidance, it—

•          Examines the important metrics for demonstrating value to business users

•          Focuses on techniques, methods, and processes for effectively implementing and using a metrics program

•          Looks closely at the key issues in software development and outsourcing

•          Demonstrates how to govern IT and how governance delivers real business value

•          Shows how to change IT for better performance, identify risks associated with change, and minimize these risks

What Does IT Contribute to the Business?
What Should the Business Expect from IT?
How Do I Measure the Value of IT?
How Much IT Is Enough?
Am I Paying Too Much for IT?
Why Should We Care About IT Governance?
Who Governs IT?
What Models Should IT Use?
What Tools Should IT Use?
Are we Outsourcing Effectively?
Why Should We Measure IT Performance?
How Do I Measure IT Performance?
Is IT Operating Effectively?
Where Are We in Relation to Industry Peers?
How Can We Do IT Better?
How Should We Change?
How Can We Manage IT Changes?
How Should IT Manage Risk?
How Should IT Manage Its People?
What Should IT Expect From the Business?
Index

“An excellent reference for the CIO and for the line manager seeking to engage the business with the transparency into the investment and cost equation they demand to justify the cost of IT.”

From the foreword by, Mike Antico, CTO, Wolters Kluwer, New York, USA