The IT Value Stack: A Boardroom Guide to IT Leadership [Hardcover]

Ade McCormack (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0470018534 | ISBN-13: 978-0470018538 | Publication Date: January 8, 2008 | Edition: 1

"Ade McCormack sounds a much-needed clarion call for IT to “grow up” and become a mature business function"
—Nicholas Carr, Author of Does IT Matter and The Big Switch

"The wit, imagination and insight that Ade brings to his regular Boardroom Debate column in the Financial Times Digital Business section shine through his new book. Ade looks at where the power, blame, influence and value in IT all sit as business technology matures and the game shifts towards maximising its value."
—Peter Whitehead, FT Digital Business editor

"This excellent book is a must read for anyone in business. As in his first book Ade McCormack demystifies IT and makes it clear, relevant and interesting for business."
—Dr Gerard-Lyons, Chief Economist at Standard Chartered

"Ade McCormack hits at the key issues, the Business/IT relationship can no longer be one of master/slave, but must evolve into one of value based partnership for business advantage. An essential read for those organisations who believe there has to be a third way between traditional business and IT approaches."
—Eddie Short, Vice President, Global Lead - Business Information Management, Capgemini, London

Successful IT value realisation is a cloudy subject. This in part contributes to the overall dissatisfaction many organisations have with IT. This book tackles the subject of IT value realisation head on. Most importantly it provides a model to help CIOs and business leaders maximize the return on their IT investment.

This book is based on the author's IT Value Stack methodology, which helps business leaders take control of their IT investment. Boardroom-bound CIOs will also find this book of value. As will those that advise on strategic business-IT matters.

The model is corroborated with input from influential people working within the world’s most successful end-user, business advisory and technology organisations.

The book covers:

• The IT Value Stack Model
• Business-IT strategy entwinement
• Process-IT entwinement
• User-technologist entwinement
• Technology management
• IT service management
• Circulation management
• Value management.
• Valuable input from influential contributors from the end-user, technology and advisory communities.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“…does a great job describing the issues of value generation within IT the way it is structured today.” (Financial Times, Wednesday 5th March 2008)

From the Inside Flap

The IT Value Stack: A Boardroom Guide to IT Leadership

Successful IT value realisation is a cloudy subject. This in part contributes to the overall dissatisfaction many organisations have with IT. This book tackles the subject of IT value realisation head on. Most importantly it provides a model to help CIOs and business leaders maximise the return on their IT investment. The book covers:

• The IT Value Stack Model
• Business-IT strategy entwinement
• Process-IT entwinement
• User-technologist entwinement
• Technology management
• IT service management
• Circulation management
• Value management.
• Valuable input from influential contributors from the end-user, technology and advisory communities.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 316 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (January 8, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470018534
• ISBN-13: 978-0470018538
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,087,309 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book on making the most of IT, March 21, 2008

By 

James Taylor "Decision Management Consultant" (Palo Alto, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The IT Value Stack: A Boardroom Guide to IT Leadership (Hardcover)

The book is aimed at a fairly high-level audience and makes a case for better integration, or "entwinement", of technology into businesses. Ade can come across somewhat opinionated but he gives you fair warning of this right up front and he has clearly put his ideas into practice enough to feel confident in them.

Ade's premise is that IT is often viewed through a cost-focus lens or with a view to assigning blame for problems. As such, its ability to positively impact business is limited and IT can seem to be an immature business function. In particular it can be hard to assign value to IT so as to correctly manage investments in IT. Ade lays makes his case, details his process and then wraps up with a nice "to do" list at the end. The 7 steps in his model (in order of adoption) are:

1. Strategy Entwinement
2. Process Entwinement
3. People Entwinement
4. Technology Management
5. Service Management
6. Circulation Management
7. Value Management

Ade's perspective is that these must be addressed in order and that each builds on the previous. There is lots of good stuff in the book and he lays out each chapter consistently. He is clearly trying to make each chapter reach coherently stand-alone, and he succeeds, but it gets a little repetitive if you read it quickly end to end. Each chapter also has some comments on the importance of the concepts written by external experts and colleagues of Ade's, which adds some nice color.

5.0 out of 5 stars The new IT mantra: Be the Business, December 20, 2009

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The IT Value Stack: A Boardroom Guide to IT Leadership (Hardcover)

Many business people think their information technology colleagues are geeks who speak a language no one else understands. Conversely, many IT people think they are above their technologically ignorant business colleagues. Ade McCormack, IT advisor and columnist for the Financial Times, is convinced that bridging the gap between IT and business is crucial if you want your company to be able to compete in the future. He says IT will continue to become a more and more important competitive factor. He urges business people to learn more about IT and vice versa. getAbstract recommends this step-by-step plan for integrating your company's IT functions into its strategic and tactical business operations. In every chapter, McCormack analyzes the status quo, the obstacles and the steps you need to take and includes contributions from leading players in the end user, technology and advisory arenas. Meanwhile, he sets a good example by writing in a style - including some tongue-in-cheek asides - that IT and non-IT people will find equally accessible.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Repetative... off here and there... but EXCELLENT., July 16, 2009

By 

J. Brutto "~ RevOf11" (Macungie, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The IT Value Stack: A Boardroom Guide to IT Leadership (Hardcover)

Overall the value of this book can be derived solely from it's distinction of the 7 layers of The IT Value Stack (as you may have derived from the aptly chosen title) in cooperation with some key, simple terms that it defines in a concise manner.

Unlike many monotonous tomes that speak of IT management and incorporation of IT value into the overall system, the author does not try to shock you with vocabulary and odd or strikingly difficult terminology. Sticking with the basics and providing verbose but simple explanations and reasoning provides the reader with something that is easily communicated to others.

But why not 5 stars? I have two reasons for this: slight problems and no citations. The problems involve many of the perspectives of PURE entwining of IT into the business decision making process. As the author suggests, it seems as though ALL personnel must be involved, seemingly dissolving the proven usefulness of advisory committees between layers. A "newbie," for instance is a good adviser to the development lead, but should be far from the board and have limited exposure to customers until oriented into the business.

The lack of citations could possibly be the cause of the current implementation of such methodologies into the corporate systems of the world. For this reason, you could say that there aren't many case studies. However, what makes up for this, is the inclusion of external perspectives and information that is provided in a wonderfully cheerful and informal manner while still providing a very intense look into the issues at hand.

Quick, easy to read and light-hearted, this text provides a wonderful addition to the boardroom and general libraries. I recommend this for everyone to read from low-level to C-level. Overall a winner that will take you from repetition of things you already know and into inspiration and contemplation.