Managing IT as a Business: A Survival Guide for CEOs - Hardcover

by Mark D. Lutchen (Author)

With Managing IT as a Business you'll get practical advice on how to unleash the full potential of this critical function so that companies can derive maximum benefit. It offers a proven plan for bridging the gap between CEOs and CIOs that has, until now, impeded their ability to work together in order to craft objectives, establish budget guidelines, and develop metrics for measuring IT value and success. In short, with this book as a guide, business leaders will learn how to manage IT as they would any other functional business unit.

Front Jacket

Typically, information technology ranks highly among most companies' top five expenditures. Yet IT continues to be one of the least understood and most poorly managed areas in business. While all executives recognize the importance of technology as a means of improving customer service and of making work more efficient, few understand how to leverage IT strategically and how to use it as a driver of business success.

Managing IT as a Business provides executives with practical advice on how to unleash the full potential of this critical function so that companies can derive maximum benefit. It offers a proven plan for bridging the gap between CEOs and CIOs that has, until now, impeded their ability to work together in order to craft objectives, establish budget guidelines, and develop metrics for measuring IT value and success. In short, with this book as a guide, business leaders will learn how to manage IT as they would any other functional business unit.

Through numerous case studies that outline the lessons other senior executives have learned while maximizing their IT investment, Managing IT as a Business covers such essentials as:

• Bringing IT into the mainstream of the enterprise
• Managing IT as a stand-alone business unit that advances corporate goals and increases profits
• Linking IT strategy to corporate strategy from a perspective of practical execution rather than theory
• Helping business units define their technology needs and risks, and enhance IT services through rigorous relationship management
• Institutionalizing within IT a culture of customer service, on-time delivery, high quality, and results-oriented performance
• Rewarding IT executives and managers based on how well IT initiatives drive profits

In today's hypercompetitive business environment, long-term success depends on quality customer service and information management. As a key driver of that success, IT has become increasingly important to any company's survival. Embedding business-oriented performance measurements in all components of the IT organization may not be easy, but no forward-thinking executive can afford to ignore this business imperative.

In Managing IT as a Business, Mark D. Lutchen offers CEOs the insight and practical guidance they need to get the most out of technology spending, to understand the real value of the IT business unit, and to increase revenues and minimize risks by taking advantage of new technologies. If information technology is to fufill its promise, executives need to prepare for fundamental change by questioning the way they currently think about-and manage-IT. For those seeking answers to such questions, this invaluable book is the definitive resource.

Back Jacket

More than a survival guide for CEOs, Managing IT as a Business provides a framework for properly leveraging IT and does so in a concise, well-sourced, and eminently readable format. This book is a must-read for all successful executives!
-Donard P. Gaynor
Former CFO, SVP-HR, CIO, and Reengineering Leader
The Seagram Spirits and Wine Group

"Mark Lutchen offers up some important guidance to the CIO on how to bring IT into the mainstream of the business and how the CIO can make the transition from tech guru and administrator to a full member of the executive team."
-Marinus N. Henny
Vice Chairman and CFO
Universal Music Group

"Mark Lutchen thinks like an operating executive. He recognizes that IT costs are a major line item in any corporate budget and that these costs must be viewed as a means to building a business rather than an end. He knows that this happens when CEOs and CIOs communicate effectively. That's what Managing IT as a Business is all about."
-Kenneth Roman
Former Chairman and CEO
Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide

"Lutchen's insights are practical and actionable. In fact, CEOs and other executives traversing the IT minefield will find no more authoritative guide than Managing IT as a Business."
-Paul Turner
Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer
AMS

"Increasingly, CIOs are being asked to join the ranks of top management. In Managing IT as a Business, Mark Lutchen offers CEOs a powerful perspective on how to leverage IT as a strategic tool. For CIOs, he cogently addresses the leadership skills they need to be full and effective members of the business-strategy team."
-Glen Urban
Dean Emeritus and Chairman of the Center for eBusiness
MIT Sloan School of Management

Author Biography

MARK D. LUTCHEN is the former Global CIO of PricewaterhouseCoopers. In that role he was responsible for reengineering, reconstructing, and integrating the company's worldwide IT systems during that organization's massive late '90s merger. With nearly three decades of operating experience, he has consulted on IT management with numerous Fortune 500 companies and executives. He currently leads PwC's Business Risk Management Initiative, which provides senior executives with practical strategies to manage IT risks and optimize IT investment and resources.