then you will appreciate that “Deliver Business Value with IT! – Design, Build and Run Effective IT Strategy execution to business needs” is now available in a re-edited format @
Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/290604
Why smashwords? Smashwords is the only publisher that permit a multi format packaging that is you can read the book on any electronic device that is you can use your laptop (PDF, HTML) and bring it with you on your slate and leverage “Deliver Business Value with IT” as a frame of reference.
Amazon http://www.amazon.com/CIO-Challenge-Effective-execution-ebook/dp/B00EFAV7M6/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377248896&sr=1-3&keywords=Martin+Palmgren
Why Amazon? Amazon is the largest electronic bookstore.
Flevy https://flevy.com/browse/business-document/deliver-business-value-with-it-design-build-and-run-effective-it-strategy-execution-to-business-needs-294/ref=mpalmgre
Why flevy? Flevy is a market place for premium business document. Share actionable storyboards and documents that I use with my high level clients. Flick out flick out the document / slide set on a pad / smart phone / lap top and start to share with your Colleagues, CIO, Business Executives and Board on the spot.
What the reviewers said: “ The “Deliver Business Value with IT” series is an extremely solid piece of work that comes across as the A-Z reference of how to execute and implement IT strategy from a CIO level perspective. The reader will learn robust approaches to deliver services designed to support IT and Business drivers. The perspective that Martin spells out permits an overview of how to leverage existing frameworks but also to effectively support the execution of an IT Strategy aligned with the Business Strategy.”
(Jean-Louis Leignel, Ex CIO of the Schneider Electric Group ; past vice-chairman of ISACA (Information System Audit and Control Association), of ISACA’s IT Governance Committee and of the AFAI association (ISACA’s french chapter)).
“The focus that Martin takes in the “Deliver Business Value with IT” series will help in tackling the seven main non-technical challenges any CIO or other senior IT business leaders will face:
1. How and what should I communicate to whom in what way?
2. What to think of when it comes to competences needed to provide my IT services?
3. How to provide the best value at the best cost?
4. What to think of when ensuring efficient and effective delivery of projects?
5. How to establish a sourcing strategy and determining how to manage your vendors?
6. What are the best practices for managing my operations, and what to think of?
7. How can I best scan for and analyse emerging technologies?
The approach taken utilizing basic business management principles and applying them to how to run an IT department are explained clearly, and takes this publication above and beyond the standard publication proclaiming to ‘run IT as a business’. The 2 key trends identified in the publication for the CIO to focus on of “Differentiation” and “Cost” are a perfect example of this.
Further to this the focus and examples of non-technical KPIs used, provides a good framework for the CIO to communicate the state of how services are provided and how the company is maximizing its value of their IT assets.”
(Alex van der Kruit, is a senior IT executive with extensive experience in building and leading service organisations, and directing change management initiatives for leading global corporations. He has held positions such as Service Delivery Director at CSC, General Manager IT at Swedish Match, and is currently Business Systems Manager at Toyota Material Handling Europe)
Mats Hultin, CIO Saab Defence and head of one of the most business centric IT organisations that I have seen consider “Deliver Business Value with IT” series as a toolbox that all CIO’s or IT Executives would like to have at hand and consult on a regular basis as they start to Design, Build and Run Effective IT Strategy execution to business needs.
PERSPECTIVE: The upper part of the clients that I speak to feel that there is a lack of actionable articles and publications that help to bridge the gap between the execution of the business strategy, business objectives and how IT can be used to support the latter to deliver business value. This is also the reason why I decided to put forward an execution centric material that has for objective to if not entirely bridge the gap between IT and the business provide Business and IT Decision makers the necessary common language to move forward in the same direction (pointing fingers is rarely productive).
The execution of the defined business strategy is often a mystery (missing link) both on the Business and the IT side. The truth is that regardless of how well the executive team draws out the strategy in the boardroom the bottom line is that the business initiatives that were supported by clients succeeds, those not supported by clients (that do not get it) fail and disappear.
The CIO and IT department hence needs to support the run of the current business activities as well as new emerging initiatives that will eventually form the business strategy. The cloud (internal or external) would be particularly well placed to develop new services that can then be institutionalised as the success of the initiative is confirmed.
The CIO and IT Department that sit around and wait for the Business Strategy to be formalised to build an IT strategy and vision might not make the 18 months magic mark. The IT Bottom line is that the IT Strategy should support business objectives, with new technology as needed as the IT department delivers effective IT Services and innovative technology solutions to improve competitiveness, demonstrated and articulated.
In order for the CIO and the IT Department to position as premium provider of IT services and focus on value to cost we need to understand the Business (IT) Strategy and how the IT department can deliver effectively to business objectives, that is to deliver business value with IT:
– What is the Business’s strategy and plans?
– What is the current business model that IT has to support?
– Where could IT make a significant impact on the business?
– Are there any further opportunities to use IT?
– How can we leverage IT in a “Time to Market”, “Cost Effectiveness”, “Cycle Time” perspective
BOTTOM LINE: The CIO and the IT Department need to position as premium provider of IT services and focus on value to cost
In order to avoid the “do we really need a CIO and IT department to bother us with technology when we can use the cloud?” the CIO has to ensure that the business strategy and business objectives are supported by IT (from a Business and IT architecture perspective). Where the IT Strategy support Strategy execution, “Time to Market”, Cost Effectiveness and stakeholder expectations from an Executive, Business Unit, IT Management and IT Risk Management perspective.
To deliver business value with IT we need to Focus on the Business Bottom Line: How fast can we get our products and services to market “Time to Market” & how can the IT department support the business from a Cycle Time and Cost Effectiveness perspective.
The IT Bottom line is that up to 40 % of current IT spend occurs outside the IT budget (CRM, Cloud). The IT department needs to position itself as a facilitator to IT services and effectively address emerging needs, market opportunities and demonstrate that the current Business Model is supported effectively. The IT department should facilitate the access to IT services to support new and current business initiatives. The business strategy emerge out of a number of initiatives that are successful or not. The IT department need to support the “Run” of day-to-day operations as well as new projects. The Cloud might particularly be of interest within this frame.
The execution of the defined business strategy is often a mystery (missing link) both on the Business and the IT side. The truth is that regardless of how well the executive team draws out the strategy in the boardroom the bottom line is that the business initiatives that were supported by clients succeeds, those not supported by clients (that do not get it) fail and disappear.
The CIO and IT department hence needs to support the run of the current business activities as well as new emerging initiatives that will eventually form the business strategy. The cloud (internal or external) would be particularly well placed to develop new services that can then be institutionalised as the success of the initiative is confirmed.
We believe that in order for the CIO and the IT Department to position as premium provider of IT services and focus on value to cost we need to understand the Business (IT) Strategy and how the IT department can deliver effectively to business objectives, that is to deliver business value with IT:
- What is the Business’s strategy and plans? , – What is the current business model that IT has to support? ,- Where could IT make a significant impact on the business? ,- Are there any further opportunities to use IT? , – How do we provide IT Services as we meet demand and cost drivers where the decision is to make (internal) or to buy (external service provider)?
We have identified 2 key trends for the CIO to focus on: – Differentiation (That is, how does IT provide a competitive advantage for the business), and – Cost (How does the IT Department deliver IT Services cost effectively). To do so we need to Build an effective IT Delivery Model to meet business needs and expectations as we leverage business strategy execution and business processes supported by an IT Service strategy (ITIL, IT – CMF, CobIT 5 (ValIT, CobIT 4.1, RiskIT), ISO 38 500, TOGAF and ISO 9001, ISO 27 001, COSO) delivered in a Business IT roadmap; that is how do we support business objectives and processes leveraged by IT and an effective IT Services strategy. Within this scope we would by definition address how we execute the IT service strategy (ITIL) Design – Spell out IT Activities from a demand and supplier side, Build – Set IT processes and key performance indicators, Run – Aligned to described ITIL activities and processes and full IT Financial Management (supported by delivery capability IT CMF, COBIT 5). Once services defined we can then decide where to run the application that support the IT and or Business Services (server / internal / external cloud / outsourced provider).
Within the frame of an acquisition up to 80% of the value realisation is (can be) on the IT side. The failure to address IT and the IT strategy can be an additional (1 out of 3) reason to M & A failure.
If we assume that to deliver business value with IT we need to support business objectives, the integration of a new entity is an optimisation of the current IT strategy (how we support business objectives and processes). We would obviously need to understand (and hopefully have the opportunity) how the current IT run before the purchase (IT due diligence) with full IT Financial Management to figure out the actual cost of delivered IT services (cost, consumption, chargeback). Once services defined we can then decide where to run the applications that support the IT and or Business Service (server / internal / external cloud / outsourced provider). We also need to define the purpose of the purchase (invest / divest) in the overall corporate strategy where it is of little use and a significant cost to integrate all systems in to a common backbone if the company is to be divested only a few years later. We could use an IT Scorecard to ensure that stakeholder expectations are met from an executive management, business line management, IT management and IT risk management perspective.
The CIO and IT department needs to support the run of the current business activities as well as new emerging initiatives that will eventually form the business strategy. The cloud (internal or external) would be particularly well placed to develop new services that can then be institutionalised as the success of the initiative is confirmed.
The CIO and IT Department that sit around and wait for the Business Strategy to be formalised to build an IT strategy and vision might not make the 18 months magic mark. The IT Bottom line is that the IT Strategy should support business objectives, with new technology as needed as the IT department delivers effective IT Services and innovative technology solutions to improve competitiveness, demonstrated and articulated.
What is in it for me or why should I read “Deliver Business Value with IT?”
All that you would like to know in regards of Martin Palmgren
What is your current experience with the book topic? As transformation director I have worked both on the Business and IT side with clients but also on the consulting side (Big 6) where I have helped executives understand how to deliver business value with IT. I have also put out a number of books on the subject.
What other business management topics are you interested in? Strategy both on the Business and IT side, Business Model Innovation, competitive analysis, IT Governance (COBIT 5), IT Sourcing, Cloud Computing, Strategy Execution, Balanced Scorecard
Why do you think you would be best suited to write this book? The logics that I provide are international best in class and build on top notch best practice that I use and have used on an IT and Business Executive level.
Where do you/your customers normally turn for information about or solutions to business problems? Gartner, Forrester, ACCENTURE, McKinsey, Booz Allen (Top 3).
What do you see as the role of the book in the modern world of immediate online content? Where an article is an excellent opportunity to share a reflection or an observation the longer book format permit and end to end observation on a subject where a blog post or article would be to short. In my case I have used articles and blog post to reflect on different aspects and deliver them in a crisp format. The articles / blog posts have then been combined with other aspects of the story to form the book. The book can then be delivered in a paper, electronic or audio format. The question is not weather the book is valid as format or not, the challenge is to find writers capable to synthesis the big picture and deliver it in a chewable format and still retain the attention of the reader. But then again this is not only the challenge of the book format where most articles and blog posts are “journalistic sensational” and few address questions where you need to dig in most likely due to the lack of competence / knowledge on the subject hence the social media or cloud, next fad frenzy where few of the “writers” would be able to describe the landscape with ROI to back up the logics of an investment.
All that you would like to know in regards of the “Deliver Business Value with IT” series
What is it about the topic that will get readers excited? After the “how do we align business needs to how IT works” (that is Business IT Alignment) clearly seen in SAP implementations the focus of the CIO need to be on how do we support / “leverage the execution of the business strategy with IT” where the IT Department supports new emerging business initiatives that will eventually form the business strategy as they succeed of fail. That said the IT department has not only the responsibility but should be held accountable for how well they help the business side understand how to leverage existing technology solutions (buy / make) effectively hence the notion of service delivery defined not as basic help desk but as a full fledged business partner and this would include IT Financial Management.
Why do you think this book would be welcomed by potential customers? Deliver Business Value with IT will help the IT Department to move from a mere third party provider of Information Technology to a position of a full fledged business partner with a comprehension of business needs, stakeholder expectations and strategy execution and how to support the latter.
How do you see your book being different from any existing or competing titles? We help the reader evolve from a position of “there are business needs and stakeholder expectations” (see COBIT 5 that is today one of the few IT frameworks that has included the notion “the needs of the business” and stakeholder expectations) to a potential position of a a full fledged business partner with a comprehension of business needs, stakeholder expectations and strategy execution and how to support the latter. For COBIT 5 practintioners the perspective presented in ”Deliver Business Value with IT” pulls the logics presented in COBIT 5 together that you can effectively leverage with the IT Scorecard.
Describe the three most important things you want the reader to have learnt/solved by the end of the book: How to ask the right questions to support the needs of the business (and not sit around to wait for the business strategy to be formalised as this might never happen). Focus on ROI and hands on metrics oriented results that supports business objectives. How to re invent the IT Business Model (that is how do we deliver IT services effectively) and the Business (IT) IT Model / Partership that is how do we support the needs of the business effectively.
Who is the target audience for the book, and what knowledge and skills should they already possess in order to gain maximum benefit from the book? CEO, CFO, CIO, CTO, SVP, Architects, Strategy, Business Executives, Procurement professionals and the IT function in general as well ITIL, IT – CMF, CobIT 5 (ValIT, CobIT 4.1, RiskIT), ISO 38 500, TOGAF and ISO 9001, ISO 27 001, COSO) practitioners that are interested in effective IT Strategy and cloud deployment. The material in this book has been derived from best in class practice @ Fortune 500 companies.
Deliver Business Value with IT would particularly be of interest for auditors. Where COBIT 5 (ValIT, CobIT 4.1, RiskIT) provides guidance in the right direction it is imperative for the audit department to provide not only red or green light compliance check list, validate that a process is measured and managed or if IT has a dashboard, but to ensure that business process and notably those of support functions such as IT support new and ongoing business initiatives.
Deliver Business Value with IT 