The Executive's Guide to Information Technology (Hardcover)

by Jon Piot (Author), John Baschab (Author) "In January 2001, we were taking a brief vacation with our families in Phoenix..." (more)
Key Phrases: recruiting funnel, vendor management role, target application architecture, New York, Information Week, Secondary Considerations (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"This book is important reading. It offers practical, real-world insight and pragmatic no-nonsense approaches for people who have a stake in corporate IT. " - Lynda Applegate, Henry R. Byers Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

"Information systems and processes are very important parts of our due diligence assessment of a company - yet the jargon is often more difficult to understand than many foreign languages. Baschab and Piot effectively translate IT into words and concepts that business people can easily understand and act upon. This book is a helpful reference guide for corporate executives and private equity groups of all types."- Neal Aronson, Managing Partner, Roark Capital Group

"Business success increasingly depends on effective use of IT. Effective use of IT depends on the kind of in-depth, practical insight in this book. Baschab and Piot provide a pragmatic approach to information systems investment that should be required reading for senior executives and CIOs alike."- Erik Brynjolfsson, Schussel Professor of Management, Director of the Center for Digital Business, MIT

"This book should provide valuable guidance for management and technology consultants. The Executives Guide provides field-proven insight on all important aspects of IT planning and execution, from governance to applications to operations and infrastructure."- Gary J. Fernandes, former Vice-Chairman EDS, member of the Board of Directors, Computer Associates

"Baschab and Piot do a great job of laying out the fundamental issues and challenges that every IT organization faces. More often than not, the issues are not technical in nature, but are a reflection of how the IT and business teams work together to define, execute, and implement new business tools. The threshold issue is leadership. Oftentimes it is difficult for business leaders to feel that they have the skills and perspective to provide that leadership on technical projects. The Executive's Guide to Information Technology provides non-technical business leaders a solid framework for engaging with their IT peers."- Tom Nealon, CIO J.C. Penney --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description
The Executive's Guide to Information Technology is a sophisticated and comprehensive guide to running a cost-effective, efficient, and business delivery-focused corporate Information Technology (IT) unit. Eschewing the theoretical for the practical, the book gives managers the guidance they need to handle any problem effectively. It provides specific policies, approaches, and tools for each critical IT management functionó from application management to vendor management.

IT management experts John Baschab and Jon Piot provide the techniques IT managers and executives need to accurately assess their current operations. Further, they offer a step-by-step improvement plan designed to raise productivity and service levels while reducing costs significantly. The authors begin by examining the symptoms and causes of waste, inefficiency and underperformance in typical IT departments before offering in-depth analysis of each operational area of IT management. They present current and emergent best practices for transforming the department into a world-class service organization.

Packed with prescriptive advice and hard-earned insight, this comprehensive resource is organized into stand-alone chapters that provide quick access to important information when managers need it. In addition, spreadsheets, documents, and checklists are designed to aid in planning and decision-making and can be easily accessed on the included CD-ROM.

Designed to help IT managers and top executives get the most out of their departments, their budget and themselves, the book covers such topics as: managing the department, establishing leadership roles, assessing the organization, cost management, project demand management, operations management, infrastructure planning, vendor selection and management, technical standards setting, investment evaluation, and productivity and quality measurement programs.

With The Executive's Guide to Information Technology, IT managers will understand the main sources of waste in their departments, identify major management issues, learn and implement critical steps toward improvement, and manage more effectively. The book will help managers improve their performance and stature within their organizations by providing the tips and tools to overcome typical areas of friction and miscommunication between IT departments and other business functions. Executives will understand how to work effectively with the CIO or IT director, as well as provide constructive management input to the IT function, achieving the best return on their IT assets.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 498 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (April 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471266094
• ISBN-13: 978-0471266099
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #593,539 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Reference Guide for Medium to Large Businesses, December 31, 2003

By	"modernmiddlemanager" (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA United States) - See all my reviews

I am the CTO of a small financial services company. I read this book to see what recommendations the authors were making about IT organization and use in larger firms, ostensibly as a roadmap for where to take my department. Many of the ideas within the book (change controls, division of labor, alignment with business goals) can be found elsewhere, but Baschab and Piot have pulled it all together created a reference guide for IT managers.

Based on my personal experience, many of their recommedations are on target. Most small- and many medium-sized organizations can benefit from their recommedations, although not without modification. It can only benefit an IT manager whose department is growing to be alert for instituting the ideas Baschab and Piot discuss, especially concerning controls, risk and organization.

One final note: it would have been interesting for the authors to discuss how small IT departments should implement their recommendations as they grow.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource for managers & execs who want more IT ROI, April 17, 2003

By	Joe Santana (Henderson,, NV United States) - See all my reviews

The Executives Guide to Information Technology is an excellent resource that is a must have for IT managers and top executives that want to get the most out of their IT investments. Every IT manager and executive should read this book to understand how to effectively manage information technology for business value. Likewise, non-IT managers and executives will learn a great deal about the inner-workings of IT and how to work with their IT brethren in the most effective way for the greatest benefits to their company. (CFOs specifically will find this book incredibly illuminating and useful).

The book is extremely well organized and presents a well-balanced mixture of academic analysis and tested practices. The sheer knowledge and hard earned personal experiences of the authors comes through in every chapter. The descriptions of the challenges facing IT will resonate clearly with anyone who has ever held an executive position within an enterprise IT team. The solutions presented are equally clear and easy to follow. Overall, the book is simply packed with techniques for recognizing challenges, accurately assessing the current state of any component of IT, comparing that state to a target benchmark and developing actionable improvement plans. Finally, the CD-ROM included with the book contains all the spreadsheets, documents and checklist tools needed to put Baschab and Piot's sage advice to immediate use.

In addition to being a highly informative volume, this is ultimately, as the title implies, a guidebook loaded with recipes for IT investment optimization success. After reading it, I suggest placing it on or near your desk where I am sure you will refer to it again and again. Also, I think that buying a copy of this book for each of their key IT managers would be one of the wisest investments a budget-squeezed CIO could make. I highly recommend it.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Packed with pragmatic advice, July 29, 2003

By	Scott Mastbrook (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

The author's depth of experience in optimizing corporate IT departments clearly shines through in this well-written guidebook. Their philosophy for optimizing the IT function is unique and is a refreshing break from many of the "how to boost ROI" books frequently found in this genre. The text is obviously written from a perspective of a CEO/CFO/CIO, but the information is applicable at all levels in corporate IT departments and is particularly useful to IT consultants advising executives responsible for corporate technology.

In addition to their unique perspectives and philosophy, the book is loaded with pragmatic advice and methodologies that can be used immediately to put their advice into practice. For example, I found the chapter on vendor selection especially useful and immediately actionable. Using their comprehensive methodology, I was able to help my client effectively move through what would have otherwise been an arduous and oblique process while avoiding some potentially very expensive pitfalls. This chapter alone was worth the price of the book.

Overall, I highly recommend this book.