Customer Reviews

The Information Paradox: Realizing the Business Benefits of Information Technology

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John Thorp's book recalls Mark Twain's definition of a classic as "a book you want to have read but don't want to read." If you're an executive with control over your company's information technology purse stings, you probably don't want to read a book this detailed in the intricacies of IT, which is exactly the reason that you should. Thorp's initial premise is that many IT investments never pan out in part because the people that are signing off on them have absolutely no idea what to expect. This book will give you a clue, but don't expect to enjoy it. It's dense with IT terminology, change and program management strategies and valuation techniques. We [...] recommend this book to all of you professionals who know that you need a better understanding of information technology, even if you won't admit it. Don't put off reading this book, no matter how much you'd like to.

Well-structured well-written thought-provoking book. Good mix of theoretical and case-study materials. Clearly introduces useful models and analytical methods. Applies the balanced scorecard approach to IT value measurement, linked with an emphasis on sound programme management/control to constrain IT costs. The bottom line: a darn good read!

My comments on this excellent book are based on my 35 years working as a public servant within the Government of Canada and on its applicability to a government context. The Government of Canada invests in its employees and programs and is committed to demonstrating and evaluating in a transparent manner the benefits and results, whether expected or not, of its programs. This book focuses on information technology (IT) investments and explains why they often do not realize their promised benefits or results. Although IT leads to more and often better information, the paradox is that having more and better information does not automatically lead to realizing the expected benefits for the business or government program that made the investment. Going from our expectations of information technology to `better information' to better programs that realize the benefits and results is not always a straight line. This book by John Thorp helps us to better understand the complexity involved in linking information, how information is transforming the way employees think and act, and the strategy for realizing the expected and desired benefits. But more importantly, this book provides us with useful models (especially the Results Chain model), tools and techniques to address the complexity and make the linkages work so as to increase the likelihood of realizing the benefits. The Information Paradox should be compulsory reading for government (and business) managers and consultants who are concerned with planning new programs intended to realize expected benefits or with evaluating existing programs to determine if benefits are being realized. The models, tools and techniques described in the book will contribute to best practices in government evaluation and performance measurement.

"The Information Paradox" is a terrifically interesting and important book that outlines the importance of using IT Porfolio Management and Program Management to govern IT investments. Thorp's book was really the first book on those topics, and it is still quite relevant today. It has strongly influenced current thinking on those topics, especially in the development of the Val IT framework. There are more recent books on IT Portfolio Management, such as Weill and Ross's "IT Governance" or Maizlish & Handler's "IT Portfolio Management Step-by-Step", but Thorp's book really introduced the subject.

This book helps to understand why some of IT projects don't bring the expected business results. The book lays a new approach to help mapping between Information Technology investments and achieving business values.

This book helps to understand why some of IT projects don't bring the expected business results. The book lays a new approach to help mapping between Information Technology investments and achieving business values.

This academic book describes a number of apparent paradoxes in business that will be familiar to managers from junior supervisors upwards.

It adopts an unashamedly academic approach to analysing these problems, and uses many charts and diagrams that will almost certainly catch on with management consultants in coming years. A good example is the chart that exaplains IT investment in terms of a matrix composed of Linkage, Reach, People and Time. This chart is interesting and has some relevance to problems in major academic research organisations and helth and safety organisations.