Managing It As A Business

Many IT projects fail to deliver the benefits to the business that were promised. Yet IT managers and staff work hard to meet the needs of the business: Systems are put in place; network operations are reliable and stable. The cause is usually a misalignment of IT with the business. In this book, Bennet Lientz and Lee Larssen present over 200 specific, practical guidelines and steps that show how to: align IT and the business, develop methods that make IT more proactive in helping the business, more effectively manage vendors, avoid negative surprises, ensure that more projects are completed on time and within budget, among other things. The techniques in this book have been implemented in over 60 organizations around the world and in over 20 different industries, and the authors include several examples in each chapter to illustrate their points. Follow these proven recommendations to manage IT as a business that adds value to the company.

In many countries, small businesses comprise over 95% of the proportion of private businesses and approximately half of the private workforce, with information technology being used in over 90% of these businesses. As a result, governments worldwide are placing increasing importance upon the success of small business enterpreneurs and are providing increased resources to support this emphasis. Managing Information Technology in Small Business: Challanges and Solutions presents research in areas such as IT performance, electronic commerce, Internet adoption, and IT planning methodologies and focuses on how these areas impact small businesses.

"This business guide presents theoretical and empirical research on the business value of information technology (IT) and introduces strategic opportunities for using IT management to increase organizational performance. Implementation management is addressed with attention to customer relationship outsourcing, decision support systems, and information systems strategic planning. Domestic, international, and multinational business contexts are covered."

Annotation A call for IT and business managers to reformulate the way they manage IT, this book contends that if IT is to deliver business value, it should be measured in core business terms such as customer satisfaction, revenue growth, and profitability. Leading academic research and industry best practices are synthesized, and principles and strategies are presented for managing for optimum IT business value, the IT budget, and the IT organization's capability. In a time when IT spending is reduced and IT organizations are often perceived as cost centers, a necessary and timely counterbalance is provided, and the argument is made that IT investments can and should be linked directly to enterprise business indicators. Also discussed is how IT spending should improve corporate profitability and how the relationship between IT initiatives and business indicators should be explicit and empirical.

Information Technology for Small Business: Managing the Digital Enterprise provides an overview of how small and medium business enterprises (SMEs) can use flexibility, agility, and anticipation strategies to better utilize information technology and knowledge management. Because small and medium businesses tend to be late technology adopters, they could miss versatile and strategic workforce advantages that enable them to achieve higher efficiency and effectiveness through technology. This book shows these SMEs new technology trends that can transform the nature of their operations both in an evolutionary business path and through revolutionary opportunities. Information Technology for Small Business: Managing the Digital Enterprise applied correctly to small and medium business can be used as a strategic tool to reach growth and profit goals for the SMEs competing in a very dynamic and global marketplace. Examples include: identifying ways that IT can be used to develop strong relationships with customers and suppliers, and how to select the best technologies for business needs. Information Technology for Small Business: Managing the Digital Enterprise targets SME owners, educators, and practitioners working in the related fields of management, IT, IS, and CS-related disciplines. Advanced-level students and policy makers focusing on SMEs will also find this book valuable in terms of main concepts for discussion.

This book offers 32 texts and case studies from across a wide range of business sectors around a managerial framework for Sustainable Business. The case studies are developed for and tested in executive education programmes at leading business schools. The book is based on the premise that the key for managing the sustainable business is finding the right balance over time between managing competitiveness and profitability AND managing the context of the business with its political, social and ecological risks and opportunities. In that way, a sustainable business is highly responsive to the demands and challenges from both markets and societies and managers embrace the complexity, ambivalence and uncertainty that goes along with this approach. The book presents a framework that facilitates the adoption of best business practice. This framework leads executives through a systematic approach of strategic analysis and business planning in risk management, issues management, stakeholder management, sustainable business development and strategic differentiation, business model innovation and developing dynamic capabilities. The approach helps broaden the understanding of what sustainable performance means, by protecting business value against sustainability risks and creating business value from sustainability opportunities.

Motivate, engage, and achieve lasting success with more effective performance management Managing Business Performance offers a unique blueprint for achieving organisational excellence through improved productivity, efficiency, engagement, and morale. With a unique approach that acknowledges the human aspect of performance management, this book combines technical and social know-how to give you a solid framework for designing, configuring, and managing performance improvement initiatives with sustainable results. You'll find practical models, techniques, and tools that take you beyond management theory into advice that you can use, with clear explanations that steer you toward the customisations that would best suit your organisation. International case studies illustrate these ideas in action, providing an intimate look at how cultural differences impact management strategies, and insight into how they can be managed. Organisational performance tools and techniques are well established, but many organisations will never realise their full benefit. This book helps you get more out of your performance strategy by showing you how the organisation's complex social nature impacts real-world outcomes, and how it can be used to drive better performance. Blend technical and social management strategies Keep people motivated and engaged See better results with more staying power Get the very best from your organisation Performance management strategies that fail to take people into account are counterproductive. There's no better way to de-motivate, demoralise, and disengage the people upon whom the organisation depends. Sustainable success requires a blended approach that utilizes the most effective science within the art of people management, and Managing Business Performance gives you a solid foundation for better business performance strategy.