Real Business of IT: How CIOs Create and Communicate Value

248 Pages·2009·8.313 MB·English

by  Richard Hunter, George Westerman

•••••<
BUSINESS
RICHARD HUNTER
GEORGE WESTERMAN
HARVARD BUSINESS PRESS
US$35.00
How to Transform IT from
Cost Center to Value Creator
More than half of all capital spending
by businesses worldwide goes to IT. Yet
most non-technical leaders remain skeptical
about whether their IT investments are
paying off. They are frustrated with their IT
departments—and they respond by putting
pressure on IT costs.
If this sounds like the situation at your
company, consider this your wake-up call.
According to IT researchers and authors
Richard Hunter and George Westerman, the
issue is not cost—it’s communication.
Simply put, companies that can
communicate effectively about the value of
IT are able to create more value from IT.
When CIOs make IT’s performance and
decisions transparent, everyone—from
seasoned technology experts to nontechnical
employees—can better understand their
roles in using and managing IT.
Based on compelling research by MIT
and Gartner into the practices of world-class
CIOs, The Real Business of IT describes
how CIOs can overcome the “value traps”
that have blocked their effectiveness in the
past. The book outlines a proven process
leading CIOs have used to transform the
executive team’s perception of IT from cost
generator to value creator. Hands-on tools
and numerous company examples reveal
how you can:
• Show value for money: Provide clear data
that demonstrates to everyone how IT
provides the right services, at the right
quality, at a competitive price
• Link IT to business outcomes: Identify
and prioritize new IT-based opportunities.
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The Real
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A
The Real
Business of
How CIOs Create and
Communicate Business Value
Richard Hunter and
George Westerman
HARVARD BUSINESS PRESS
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
Copyright 2009 Gartner, Inc. and George Westerman
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into
a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior
permission of the publisher. Requests for permission should be directed to
[email protected], or mailed to Permissions, Harvard Business
School Publishing, 60 Harvard Way, Boston, Massachusetts 02163.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hunter, Richard, 1952-
The real business of IT : how CIOs create and communicate business
value / Richard Hunter and George Westerman.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4221-4761-0 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Information technology—Management. 2. Management information
systems. I. Westerman, George, 1963- II. Title.
HD30.2.H864 2009
658.4'038—dc22
2009019364
The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American
National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Publications and Documents
in Libraries and Archives Z39.48-1992.