Making Technology Investments Profitable

This book helps executives and managers increase IT project success by using a process for identifying the true ROI value for proposed IT investments, and then tracking project results against that standard. Technology ROI provides an abundance of pragmatic tips, tools, and techniques to make the process easy to understand.

A guide to getting the crucial business case right?every time Showing professionals how to calculate the value of typical budgeting and funding requests quickly and easily, Making Technology Investments Profitable, Second Edition applies the "Value Realization" process, using proven strategies that maximize the business payoff from IT projects. Filled with case studies, this innovative book enables managers to confidently quantify, in a matter of minutes, the true business value of funding a desired project. New edition explains how to proactively manage the conversion of a business case's value promise to its value realization Includes dozens of new case studies on realizing maximum value from IT enabled investments from various industries and around the world New checklists and tables A dedicated Web site containing additional material, case studies, chat rooms, and blogs on the value-realization process The Second Edition provides senior executives, project managers, and technical staff with new insights on how to get the crucial business case right, while also explaining how to proactively manage the conversion of the business case's value promise into the value reality of a completed project.

Managing Technology to Meet Your Mission Managing Technology to Meet Your Mission??is a practical resource that will help nonprofit professionals make smart, strategic decisions about technology.??The book shows how to??effectively manage technology and offers practical advice for decision makers and staff alike who often have little or no experience with technology. With contributions from the top experts in the nonprofit technology field, this must-have guide addresses technology planning and people. It includes the tools you need to get the work done, and the knowledge that will help you communicate better, evaluate technology investments, raise money, and more. Written in nontechnical language the book covers a broad spectrum of topics including: Achieving IT Alignment with Your Mission STEVE HEYE, YMCA of the USA Managing Technology Change DAHNA GOLDSTEIN, PhilanTech Measuring the Return on Investment of Technology BETH KANTER, trainer, blogger and consultant IT Planning and Prioritizing PETER CAMPBELL, Earthjustice Finding and Keeping the Right People JAMES L. WEINBERG and CASSIE SCARANO, Commongood Careers Budgeting For and Funding Technology SCOTT MCCALLUM and KEITH R. THODE, Aidmatrix Foundation Introduction to IT and Systems KEVIN LO and WILLOW COOK, TechSoup Global Where Are Your Stakeholders, and What Are They Doing Online? MICHAEL CERVINO, Beaconfire Consulting Effective Online Communications JOHN KENYON, nonprofit technology strategist Effective Online Fundraising MADELINE STANIONIS, Watershed The Future of IT in Nonprofits EDWARD GRANGER-HAPP, Save the Children Praise for Managing Technology to Meet Your Mission “This invaluable guide for nonprofit leaders proves that nonprofit organizations can and should embrace technology, rather than being scared of or intimidated by it!” —KRISTIE FERKETICH, SENIOR STRATEGIST, GOOGLE GRANTS, GOOGLE INC. “NTEN’s Managing Technology to Meet Your Mission can help leaders craft a technology strategy that makes sense and builds ROI while also providing inspiration for their staff and supporters!??? —JONATHON D. COLMAN, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR AND WEB EVANGELISTA, DIGITAL MARKETING, THE NATURE CONSERVANCY

Providing the necessary background information and hands-on tools to build compelling business cases, this book will increase the reader's capability to champion new business development ideas, take them to senior management, and facilitate the decision process by understanding the key theories and practices of finance and corporate investments.

Over the past two decades, international trade agreements such as GATT and NAFTA have lowered international trade barriers. At the same time, the information revolution has fueled profound shifts in the ways companies conduct business and communicate with their customers, and worldwide acceptance of the ISO 9000 standard has established the notion that quality must be defined in terms of customer satisfaction. Falling trade barriers and rising quality standards have made linguistic and cultural issues increasingly important. To successfully compete in today’s global on-demand economy, companies must localize their products and services to fit the needs of the local market in terms of language, culture, functionality, work practices, as well as legal and regulatory requirements. In recognition of the growing importance of localization, this volume explores a certain number of key issues, including: • Return on investment and the localization business case • Localization cost drivers and cost-containment strategies • Localization quality and customer-focused quality management • Challenges posed by localization of games, including Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) • Using a meta-language to facilitate accurate translation of disembodied content • The case for managing source-language terminology • Terminology management in the localization process • Reconciling industry needs and academic objectives in localization education • Localization standards and the commoditization of linguistic information • The creation and application of language industry standards • Rethinking customer-focused localization through user-centered design • Moving from translation reuse to language reuse

Over the past few years, e-government has been rapidly changing the way governmental services are provided to citizens and businesses. These services improve business and government exchange capability, provide a new way to discover and share information, and play a part in the evolution of future technologies. The Handbook of Research on Democratic Strategies and Citizen-Centered E-Government Services seeks to address which services in e-government should be provided to users and how. This premier reference work gives an overview of the latest achievements in the field of e-government services, provides in-depth analysis of and research on the development and deployment of cutting-edge applications, and provides insight into future trends for researchers, teachers, students, government workers, and IT professionals.

Hospitals are large and complex organizations, yet they function largely without sophistication and technology inherent in other large businesses. In a time when well over half of all hospitals report negative operating margins, driving down costs through logistics and the supply chain is one of the most important yet overlooked areas for cost improvements. Hospitals and other healthcare systems spend more time and money on their supply chain than on physicians and doctors salaries combined. This is one of the first books to focus on the core business support services typically called “logistics” in healthcare. These include: Hospital materials management and the clinical supply chain Laundry and linen management eCommerce and technology in hospital logistics Accounting for medical supplies and inventories Inventory management Healthcare vendor collaboration Demand and supply planning This is an ideal text for healthcare administrators and functional business managers responsible for purchasing, receiving, supplier management, business planning, accounting, and hospital administration as well as for students of hospital business services.