Managing IT as an Investment: Partnering for Success [Hardcover]

Ken Moskowitz (Author), Harris Kern (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 013009627X | ISBN-13: 978-0130096272 | Publication Date: July 26, 2002 | Edition: 1

70% of IT organizations are still viewed as cost centers, not value centers. That must change. Managing IT as an Investment shows IT leaders exactly how to change it. Respected CIO Ken Moskowitz and top IT consultant Harris Kern offer a complete action plan for managing technology as a strategic asset, partnering with the business, building a culture based on shared values, nurturing individuals to new levels of productivity and satisfaction, creating exceptional value - and being recognized for it throughout an organization.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Maximizing the value of technology—and the success of your IT organization.

The effective use of technology is key to the success of every enterprise. But 70% of IT organizations are still viewed by their business counterparts as cost centers, not value centers. This book shows IT leaders how to change that perception. Renowned CIO Ken Moskowitz and top IT consultant Harris Kern offer a plan for building IT environments that exceed strategic goals, while nurturing unprecedented levels of productivity and job satisfaction. They provide both "Rules of thumb" and an intellectual framework for building and running an outstanding IT organization. Key topics include:

• Defining IT strategy and making it operational
• Managing your human capital: recruiting, hiring, transitioning, mentoring, and managing performance
• Controlling the risks and expectations associated with any IT project 6 Deepening relationships with line-of-business leaders, senior executives, and the boardroom Building a track record of success
• Reaping the benefits of standardization

Drawing on the experiences of one of the world's most successful IT organizations, Moskowitz and Kern demonstrate exactly how to manage technology as a strategic asset, partner with the business, build a culture based on shared values and create exceptional value-and be recognized for it throughout an organization.

"To really leverage the value of information technology, you need an IT organization that is genuinely aligned with your business goals and objectives. Ken Moskowitz and Harris Kern show you exactly what it takes to build that organization. If you want to learn how to turn a cost center into a strategic asset, this is the book you need."

—Leonard Kim, CIO
GE Capital

About the Author

KEN MOSKOWITZ is currently SVP of Global IT Operations and Infrastructure for the McGraw-Hill Companies. Previously, as CIO of Standard & Poor's Credit Market Services, he was responsible for the IT resources to support S&P worldwide. He was formerly CTO for the Global Merchant Banking Unit of Banker's Trust, director of wholesale banking technology for EAB, and senior director of management consulting at Coopers & Lybrand.

HARRIS KERN is currently an enterprise IT consultant with Sun Microsystems. A noted speaker, worldwide columnist, and lead author for the New Enterprise series of books, he is consulting editor for Prentice Hall's "Harris Kern's Enterprise Computing Institute."

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 1 edition (July 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 013009627X
• ISBN-13: 978-0130096272
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,580,421 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best practices in customer-focused IT management, July 27, 2002

By 

Mike Tarrani "www.tarrani.com" (Deltona, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Managing IT as an Investment: Partnering for Success (Hardcover)

Although the title implies a focus on IT portfolio management, the book goes into the core of IT management. For the IT manager or CIO this book is one of the most coherent and practical guides to what you need to do in order to deliver service and support in a cost-effective, mature manner.

The underlying theme is developing a value-based partnership between IT and the business process owners that IT supports. This is introduced and developed in Chapter 1 (Introduction), and is placed within the context of Porter's value chain. This chapter also covers value alignment as a guiding principle. Chapters 2 through 4 expand upon the concepts by explaining consequence-based thinking (a powerful technique for examining initiatives), organizational factors and issues in the form of matrixed resources and business/IT alignment, and value management.

Chapter 5 is particularly valuable because it shows how to transform the goals and objectives from the first four chapters into a strategy. The tactics that support the strategy are discussed in the subsequent chapters: drilling down into the small picture (Chapter 6), organizational details (Chapter 7), human capital management (Chapter 8) and investing in values (Chapter 9).

The final chapter, CIO responsibilities, and the appendices provide a strong foundation of guidelines and tools. I thought the appendices were particularly valuable, especially A (Sample Business Case Template) and (C) Desktop Development Standards and Procedures). Other material in the appendices includes (B) Personal Productivity Services Organization Overview and (D) Systems Development Contract.

There are two additional books that will nicely complement this one, and I recommend reading them after this one in the following order: Smart Business by Dave L. Chapman and Barry Sheehy, and Building Operational Excellence: Strategies to Improve It People and Processes by Dale Kutnick and Bruce Allen.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Keep the Focus on What it Takes to Achieve IT Success, August 16, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Managing IT as an Investment: Partnering for Success (Hardcover)

This book was suggested reading for my masters degree in business management. As a former project leader and current manager in IT this book is priceless. Making technical, leadership and communication work together in partnering IT is the key. All too often IT is seen as a separate entitity as opposed to the vital asset that it is. Getting that handshake between IT's role and the business end of your corporation is an investment all successful IT centers make.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars An important topic treated too lightly, December 28, 2002

By 

Ma, Tien Jui (Taipei Taiwan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Managing IT as an Investment: Partnering for Success (Hardcover)

Really, IT is facing a big transformation from cost center through service provider to (hopefully) business partner. However, this one ends up with some interesting points here, some good concepts there (more than half are quotes from famous schalors such as Porter), and followed by some cases description (it's not qualified as study). I suggest authors should fit the content into one article and save both our time and money.

So the bottom line: For those who could implement the concepts already, this book provides no add value; for those who couldn't, this book can't help you, either.