Customer Reviews

Leveraging the New Infrastructure: How Market Leaders Capitalize on Information Technology

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3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

The premise of this work provides a very interesting and easily recallable way of thinking of IT resources - a pyramid structure the breaks down IT into 4 major areas. The only problem is that the idea is repeated ad nauseum. There are a few interesting case studies, but the 'core ideas' could have been stated in about 1/3 the pages.

This is an excellent analysis of the role infrastructure plays in large organizations, be they conglomerate or corporation, multinational or global.

The fundamental thesis advanced by the authors is that for the integrated, adaptive corporations of the future, infrastructure has the potential of being a long-term strategic enabler. For such corporations, the scale and longevity of enabling infrastructure requires that infrastructure investments continue to exhibit value way beyond the lifespan of existing strategies.

A distinction is made between short-term (current) strategies which are responsive to the immediate competitive environment and longer term strategic intent which drives for realization of a persistent vision of the future. Long-term enabling infrastructure which is expected to survive (and enable) several iterations of current strategy is legitimized by supporting the strategic intent of the corporation.

This redraws alignment, breaking alignment of infrastructure investment to current strategy and instead aligning it to strategic intent.

We, in Zurich Financial Services Group, are pursuing an aggressive strategy which builds on the concepts found in this text. We are redrawing the line between what is infrastructure and what is local, market-differentiating solution. By commoditizing fundamental components used to build such solutions, which are shifting more and more into infrastructure. Weaving together local solutions becomes much faster, much easier when the focus is entirely on local value-chain optimization.

This book is now required reading in ZFSG. We have bought literally hundreds of copies and distributed them amongst our senior IT professionals. Definitely a BUY recommendation.

Information technology has made possible the Information Age. Today, organizations are wrestling with the monumentally complex decisions about how to invest in this ever-advancing technology-investment decisions that are shaping the competitive destiny of corporations. How such decisions are made and how they should be made is at the heart of this book.

The central theme is linking strategy with a firm's IT portfolio: its total investment in an IT infrastructure. The authors explore four approaches to such infrastructure investment decisions, ranging from none to an enabling view that positions the firm to optimize its IT core competence in a strategically flexible manner. The authors have synthesized the approach market leaders take to leveraging IT. This books reveals how IT creates business value, and how top performing firms use IT in alignment with their current and future needs and goals. The book's concluding section addresses how to manage the IT portfolio for optimum business results. The book includes, among many of its nuggests, a useful grouping of infrastructure services into 8 management clusters.

Reading this book is a delightful educational experience; it is also REQUISITE READING for all strategists. Reviewed by Gerry Stern, founder, Stern & Associates, author of Stern's Sourcefinder The Master Directory to HR and Business Management Information & Resources, Stern's CyberSpace SourceFinder, and the Compensation and Benefits SourceFinder.

I think this is an excellent book for seasoned Information Technology managers, general managers, as well as for those just seeking additional ideas on the topic of Information Technology (IT) and it's use in business. I was looking for a book that would give me a framework for how IT could be viewed and managed within a corporation. This book accomplished that for me. I liked the approach they took by treating IT as an asset, just like any other asset on a firm's balance sheet. The book is basically a summary of lesson's learned from studying 75 firms over the last 8 years, but also provides some frameworks (drawn from their research) by which you can analyze your own firms' IT situation. The frameworks that this book offers seem to make sense and at the very least might cause you to think about IT in a different light than you currently do. At least it did that for me.

The book is easy and enjoyable to read, provided you're interested in IT. The appendices provide a couple of exercises you can use for analyzing the use of IT for your business, which might be useful.

Being in the business of marketing and selling IT solutions, I picked up at least a half-dozen key insights that helped me better understand how to position infrastructure investments to be aligned with my customers' business strategies. A dense, but insightful read.

I found this book quite helpful for my team. It covers the current issues quickly and well. Although it is repetitive, the book presents a tapestry that steers thinking in IT toward strategic alignment. The book lays the foundation for the holistic integration of IT and business strategy, using techniques (though not explicitly) of portfolio management, continuous improvement, teambuilding, and enterprise architecture modeling.

I highly recommend this book. It should be paired with a more enterprise architecture centric book to provide a complete actionable background. That said, the book stands alone to plant the foundation for successful IT/Strategy convergence.

This book has a tendency to reiterate the same concepts over and over, but they are 'sensible' concepts. Managing the projects and having measurements for the use of infrastructure in todays businesses is critical. More important is the methods used to weigh the benefits of investing more into a global infrastructure vs. a LOB infrastructure. the second half of the book reads faster than the first, but 20-30 pages a day will get you through it in know time and allow you to consume the message.

A very good approach to a complex subject : IT governance and investment. The authors provides you a good framework to analyse it. A must read for CEO and CIO that want to regain control of IT and its relation with corporate strategy. The "portfolio" and "maxim" model are simple but so obviously relevant that you will be amazed you don't have them in your company

I must say that the book did consider different industry sets and broke investments into meaningful components for easier and clearer analysis. I was very impressed by the way the book was researched.

I think some crucial factors external to technology need to be taken into account for a clearer picture on ROI such as:

a.Factors at the country level - specially for multinational companies such as macroeconomic stability,investments in infrastructure at the country level, and so on.

b.Organizational factors -internal culture, politics, etc.

c.With the internet transforming the market place, I am still thinking how this framework will be useful in analyzing IT investments in the future (say five years from now).

Super book! This book adds value to something most companies are yet to figure out they have or need--an IT infrastructure. The book makes a case that the infrastructure is the key to competitive edge. Sold! I believe it. Read this book and you'll also be convinced.

Regrettably, some of the readers won't "get it" hence the competitive edge. If you don't get, check your altitude. You may be flying too low. In my view, infrastructure only looks like infrastructure from on high. Think end to end. The secret is to gain enough altitude to see it. Believe me--whether you see it or not--it's there and costing you big bucks! So soar! Gain altitude until you see the infrastructure. Let this book be the wind beneath your wings.

Don't just take Weill and Broadbent's word for it. What is your favorite IT guru saying about this subject?

You will undoubtedly conclude that this book is on target and on the money! Read it. Let it soak in. Then start Leveraging the New Infrastructure.