Business of IT, The: How to Improve Service and Lower Costs

Drive More Business Value from IT…

and Bridge the Gap Between IT and Business Leadership

• Apply business practices throughout IT to optimize budgets and improve ROI
• Create higher satisfaction and more realistic expectations for IT throughout the business
• Written by two leading IBM experts on bringing business discipline to IT

IT organizations have achieved outstanding technological maturity, but many have been slower to adopt world-class business practices. This book provides IT and business executives with methods to achieve greater business discipline throughout IT, collaborate more effectively, sharpen focus on the customer, and drive greater value from IT investment. The book focuses on four specific areas of business practices related to improving IT service management, managing services’ cost and value, measuring IT performance with a goal of improving service and lowering cost, and improving customer alignment. Drawing on their experience consulting with leading IT organizations, Robert Ryan and Tim Raducha-Grace help IT leaders make sense of alternative ways to improve IT service and lower cost, including ITIL, IT financial management, balanced scorecards, and business cases. You’ll learn how to choose the best approaches to improve IT business practices for your environment and use these practices to improve service quality, reduce costs, and drive top-line revenue growth.

Online Sample Chapter

IT Financial Management: The Business of IT

Sample Pages

Download the sample pages (includes Chapter 6 and Index)

Table of Contents

Preface     xv

Acknowledgements     xxi

About the Authors     xxiii

Chapter 1: Introduction: Improving Service and Lowering Costs     1

Chapter 2: IT Service Lifecycle: Improving Business Performance     17

Chapter 3: Adopting IT Service Management Using ITIL     55

Chapter 4: IT Financial Management: The Business of IT     89

Chapter 5: IT Business Cases: Realizing IT Value     139

Chapter 6: IT Performance Management: Defining Success     179

Chapter 7: IT Business Skills: Enabling Customer Outcomes     219

Chapter 8: Success Stories: Improving Service and Lowering Costs     235

Chapter 9: Going Forward     253

Appendix: Acronym List     265

Index     271