The Smart Way to Buy Information Technology: How to Maximize Value and Avoid Costly Pitfalls [Hardcover]

Brad L. Peterson (Author), Diane M. Carco (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 27, 1998

This one-of-a-kind book helps companies make the most of their IT acquisitions budget by avoiding bad technology investments and harmful vendor relationships.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

BRAD L. PETERSEN (Chicago, IL) is an attorney at Mayer, Brown & Platt, specializing in technology transactions. DIANE M. CARCO (Chicago, IL) is the Group Vice President/Senior Financial Officer of Information Technology at one of the largest financial services companies in the U.S.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM (January 27, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814403875
• ISBN-13: 978-0814403877
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,381,018 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent primer., October 16, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Smart Way to Buy Information Technology: How to Maximize Value and Avoid Costly Pitfalls (Hardcover)

Purchasing IT is a task of enormous complexity on several different levels. Technology continues to evolve rapidly and prices continue to decline. The true costs of buying and implementing systems are almost always greater than expected. And quantifying profit contribution is about as easy as catching a fish with your bare hands. Moreover, systems ripple through an organization, ofen in unanticipated ways. The Smart Way to Buy Information Technology can help lead you out of the IT jungle.

This handy volume is an indispensable primer for anyone whose job requires involves buying and implementing systems or overseeing people who do. The book is quite readable, can be read through in a couple of sittings, and is even sprinkled throughout with wry humor. It is equally useful for technical and nontechnical managers and covers the waterfront pretty well. It has interesting things to say on the topics of consulting, outsourcing and software licensing, and also has helpful sections on financial analysis of IT acquisitions, basic contracting (along with sample contract provisions with easy-to-grasp explanations), and the more mundane but important topic of contract administration. Each topic could warrant a volume of its own, but Peterson and Carco nicely compact fundamental concepts in each chapter.

This book is most appropriately placed in the "disaster avoidance" section of your business library. Its real strength is navigating the reader through the minefield of technology procurement (and there are lots of mines). The book gently reminds us that in procuring IT, we must resist being wowed by "gee whiz" technology and, like other capital decisions, focus on making a sound business judgment based on thorough financial analysis and our company's competitive position.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review on cio.com from 9/15/98 issue, October 12, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Smart Way to Buy Information Technology: How to Maximize Value and Avoid Costly Pitfalls (Hardcover)

In Search of the Upper Hand

The last time you bought a car, did you go to the dealership knowing as much about the salesperson's strategy and tactics as you did about the vehicle you wanted to buy? If not, you probably didn't feel as in control of the purchasing process as you could have. What about the last time you made an IT purchase--how much control did you have over that process? If you had the queasy feeling that you'd been stuffed in the trunk and taken for a ride, then The Smart Way to Buy Information Technology is the cheat sheet you need to put you in the driver's seat.

    In a clear, common-sense manner, Smart Way reveals the ploys of vendors and how CIOs can counteract them. Do you have someone on your staff whose friend is a vendor? Learn how to make that person a mole and use the relationship to your advantage. Not sure how to make the best compromise in negotiations? Have a list of your needs in order of priority based on team input so that you don't trade away an important need for an unimportant one.

But the writing is more than just straightforward--frequently, it's also fun. Co-authors Brad L. Peterson, a lawyer, and Diane M. Carco, a finance executive, step out of their business personas and pepper their writing with takeoffs on Bertolt Brecht, John Steinbeck and Shakespeare's Hamlet soliloquy.

    The book is divided into three parts. The first looks at how IT buying mistakes are made, with insights into technophilia (love of technology) and vendor selling ploys (buzzword babble, appeals to machismo) that will make you giggle and grimace in recognition. People you know (and probably work with) are skewered in this book. The second section describes a practical strategy for dealing with these tactics: identifying the proper participants for a cross-department purchase team, avoiding the seven deadly negotiating sins (assuming that the vendor intends to screw you or has your best interests at heart are equally dangerous), and finding where your leverage with the vendor lies.

    In the final section, devoted to contracts, the authors delve into the minutiae of consulting and outsourcing agreements, software licensing and hardware purchases. The value of each clause would have been more apparent if the contractual information had been annotated. Nonetheless, if you're looking for nuts and bolts to make your contracts as mutually beneficial as possible, you can't go wrong with the fundamentals the authors provide. And you should certainly crib from this book the next time you buy a car.

--Howard Baldwin

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great introduction to the topic; clear and direct, October 6, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Smart Way to Buy Information Technology: How to Maximize Value and Avoid Costly Pitfalls (Hardcover)

For an executive who's too often gotten less than he expected from information technology, this book is a godsend. It's clear and a joy to read. It gives the right questions, and tells you how to use your people effectively.