In Search of Business Value: Ensuring a Return on Your Technology Investment

By William L. Simon and William L. Simon

In today's high-tech business world, few issues are more important than how companies can gain competitive advantage from using new technology, especially information technology (IT). In In Search of Business Value, Microsoft vice president Robert McDowell and best-selling business author William L. Simon address that problem head-on, describing the steps every organisation must take to get the best bang from each buck spent on IT infrastructure. Drawing on their own personal experience and that of over 25 corporate and IT leaders from the worlds of business and government, In Search of Business Value covers in detail such issues as bringing organisational leaders on board in promoting the use of IT, enlisting staff support, using IT to lower costs and improve productivity, integrating the IT and business sides of an organisation, and using IT to support best business practices. IT these days is an indispensable tool in defining and achieving corporate goals. In Search of Business Value is an indispensable tool for corporate leaders and managers looking to make IT work successfully for their organisations.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1590790626
• ISBN13: 9781590790625
• Release Date: January 2010
• Publisher: Select Books (NY)
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Spread the enlightenment!

Most business-self-help-type books put me to sleep pretty fast. I appreciate the direction, examples, and insight given by this book. It points out many issues I have seen at past employers and gave me a lot to think about as far as 'the right ting to do' as far as technology implementations go. From the trenches, all I usually saw was 'how do I sell this to my boss to get funding'. By changing my perspective a little, I am able to see a much bigger picture. The problem is not too hard, it just needs to be approached with the proper respect and consideration by all parties involved. Accountability, governance, common sense, leadership, communications and honesty -- it all takes work, but it is the only way to achieve excellence.

A no-nonsense guide to steering clear of trouble

A key Microsoft vice president and a skilled author of the business world (among other venues) combine their talents to present In Search of Business Value, a management self-help book for both corporate and IT leaders that offers real-life examples showing how best to extract the maximum business value from technology. Framing the achievement of business value as a leadership issue, not a technology issue, chapters address how to make a business case for types of technology, the role governance can play in order to improve the useage of IT, how to cope with controversy and miscellaneous problems, and much more. A no-nonsense guide to steering clear of trouble and gaining optimum benefit, written especially for managers and lay people who themselves may be only minimally familiar with the latest technological innovations.