Synopses & Reviews
Praise for The Business-Oriented CIO
A Guide to Market-Driven Management
"A must-read for CIOs and senior IT executives. George Tillmann's Market-Driven Management techniques are an outstanding addition to the CIO's arsenal, full of insights for IT organizations wanting to generate real added value from IT investments and services."
Andre Spatz, former Chief Information Officer, UNICEF
"The Business-Oriented CIO: A Guide to Market-Driven Management is an exciting proposition for CIOs and CEOs trying to make IT more responsive to their organizations' needs. Tillmann's formula for running the IT department as a business within a business can transform a costly, slow-to-respond, always-playing-catch-up function into vibrant, efficient, responsive internal partner."
Brandt Allen, Professor, Darden Business School, University of Virginia
"Tillmann delivers a thoroughly insightful guide to navigating and managing IT through his market-driven and customer-focused approach to business alignment through governance, strategy, and planning. A must-read for the entire executive suite focused on value-driven information technology."
Paul Zazzera, former SVP and Chief Information Officer, Time Inc.
"Both experienced and relatively new CIOs can learn a great deal from George's insightful pragmatic guide on the biggest challenge facing CIOs today. Namely, how to position IT, and the CIO, as an integral part of the business. Keep it in your desk drawer for handy reference: you will go to it often."
Peter Whatnell, Chief Information Officer, Sunoco Inc.
Every CIO's playbook . . .
Written by industry expert George Tillmann, The Business-Oriented CIO offers you important guidance on how to bring IT into the mainstream of your business and how you can make the transition from technical guru to a full member of the executive team. This essential book contains insights from business leaders including Michael Porter on strategy, Harry Markowitz on portfolio theory, C. K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel on core competencies, Robert Kaplan and David Norton on scorecards, and Christian Gronroos on customer service. It reveals the winning formula to take your IT department from a reactive cost center to a proactive business partner.
Review
"Tillman is a former Booz Allen Hamilton Partner, CIO, and management consultant. This is enough to make him well worth a listen. Tillman makes a substantial number of points that serve as food for thought and further exploration. Tillman makes the strong point that IT needs to be keenly aware of where the business is going." (Business2Business Magazine; November 2008)
Synopsis
CEOs and CFOs want their IT departments to change their focus from being a service center to a true business partner. This book provides the CIO with the necessary tools to make this happen. The author provides a playbook to show CIOs how they can become true partners--participating at the highest strategic levels.
Synopsis
The Business-Oriented CIOpresents an approach called Market Driven Management, which introduces and adapts some of the best for-profit business thinking for use by the CIO and IT manager. Companies are finding that the IT department is becoming an integral part of their business. If electronic components of their business fails, a companys profits can come to a halt (e.g., e-commerce site is down, e-mail is down). To this day, the IT department is reactive rather than pro-active. This book will show CIOs and IT managers how to run IT more like a business.
Synopsis
The Business-Oriented CIO: A Guide to Market-Driven Management introduces the Market Driven Management approach, which applies and adapts some of the best for-profit business thinking for use by CIOs and IT managers. IT departments are integral parts of businesses; if the electronic components like e-commerce sites fail, the business will come to a screeching halt. Run your IT department like a business rather than a reactive entity that only functions to fix problems, and transform your image from that of service center to a true business partner.
Synopsis
The Business-Oriented CIO
A Guide to Market-Driven Management
IT is under pressure to change the way it functions within a corporation. Some senior business managers recognize IT as a critical business enabler, but for others, IT is too unreliable and too untrustworthy to play a critical business role. To better position IT to realize its full potential as an equal business partner, IT needs to be viewed by the business as safe hands—providing IT services efficiently and effectively with transparent processes and procedures.
The Business-Oriented CIO: A Guide to Market-Driven Management equips CIOs with the same or similar tools used by for-profits to create real business value. It brings together the best of the best in IT best practices, programs, techniques, and experiences of CIOs and senior IT managers. Using an approach called Market-Driven Management to adopt for-profit techniques for the cost center, this practical book reveals the winning formula necessary to run an IT business, including:
Understanding internal customer needs by applying for-profit customer segmentation techniques
Adopting board of director methods to enhance IT governance
Creating an IT strategy that actually aligns with the business
Using portfolio management to ensure that all IT constituencies are fairly represented
Creating an IT front office to understand, support, and represent internal customers to IT
Implementing a simple program to learn what other IT organizations, including competitors, are doing
Using core competencies to develop core service offerings critical to the enterprise
Understanding what IT can do to transform every organization
IT is essential to every company's survival, but if it is to fulfill its potential, CIOs need to question the way IT is currently perceived and managed. The Business-Oriented CIO succinctly addresses the leadership skills and practical guidance CIOs need in order to be full and effective members of the business-strategy team.
About the Author
George Tillmann is a former Booz Allen Hamilton partner, CIO, and management consultant. He has helped nearly 100 IT organizations worldwide and is the author of more than two dozen articles on information technology management appearing in publications such as CIO, Strategy + Business, Optimize, and Computerworld. He currently splits his time between writing and working as a private consultant.
Table of Contents
Preface.
Acknowledgements.
Chapter 1. In Search of Overhead Heroes.
The Problem.
The IT Solution.
What The For-Profits Can Teach It.
Some Additional Thoughts.
Chapter 2. It Governance.
The Problem.
The IT Solution.
What The For-Profits Can Teach It.
Some Additional Thoughts.
References.
Chapter 3. It Strategy And Planning.
The Problem.
The IT Solution.
What The For-Profits Can Teach It.
Some Additional Thoughts.
References.
Chapter 4. Portfolio Management.
The Problem.
The IT Solution.
What The For-Profits Can Teach It.
Some Additional Thoughts.
References.
Chapter 5. Customer Management.
The Problem.
The IT Solution.
What The For-Profits Can Teach It.
Some Additional Thoughts.
References.
Chapter 6. Market Intelligence.
The Problem.
The IT Solution.
What The For-Profits Can Teach It.
Some Additional Thoughts.
References.
Chapter 7. Service Offering Management.
The Problem.
The IT Solution.
What The For-Profits Can Teach It.
Some Additional Thoughts.
References.
Chapter 8. Performance Management.
The Problem.
The IT Solution.
What The For-Profits Can Teach It.
Some Additional Thoughts.
References.
Chapter 9. Organizational Competencies.
The Problem.
The IT Solution.
What The For-Profits Can Teach It.
Some Additional Thoughts.
References.
Chapter 10. In Search Of Customer Service.
Do What I Say, Not What I Do.
A New Look At Service.
Service Economy Versus Service Mentality.
Do You Want Courtesy With That?
References.
Chapter 11. Local Heroes.
Achieving Market Driven Management.
First Steps First.
A Final Thought.
References.
Index.