Harvard Business Review on Aligning Technology with Strategy [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

This is one of the volumes in a series of anthologies of articles that first appeared in Harvard Business Review. Having read all of them when they were published individually, I can personally attest to the high quality of their authors' (or co-authors') insights as well as the eloquence with which they are expressed. This collection has two substantial value-added benefits that should also be noted: If all of the articles were purchased separately as reprints, the total cost would be at least $60-75; also, they are now conveniently bound in a single volume for a fraction of that cost.

Those who need to identify the best practices for unleashing technology's strategic potential - but don't have time to fine them -- will find the material in this HBR book invaluable. Authors of the eight articles focus on one or more components of a process by which to clarify corporate strategy with one's IT department, fund only IT projects that support its strategy, transform IT investments into profits, build one technology platform for an entire organization, adopt new technologies only when their best practices are established, use analytics to make smart decisions at all levels of one's company, and integrate social media into one's business.

I now provide two brief excerpts that are representative of the high quality of all eight articles:

In "Six IT Decisions Your IT People Shouldn't Make," Jeanne W. Ross and Peter Weill identify and discuss a list of six decisions for which senior managers should make. "The first three have to do with strategy; the second three relate to execution. Each is a decision that IT people shouldn't be making - because, in the end, that's not their job."

1. How much should we spend on IT?
2. Which business processes should receive our IT dollars?
3. Which IT capabilities should be firmwide?

4. How good do our IT services need to be?
5. What security and privacy risks will we accept?
6. Whom do we blame if an IT initiative fails?

In "Competing on Analytics," Thomas H. Davenport identifies and discusses six imperatives for a company to become an analytics competitor.

o Champion Analytics from the Top
o Create a Single Analytics Initiative
o Focus Your Analytics Effort
o Establish an Analytics Culture
o Hire the Right People
o Use the Right Technology(ies)

Other articles in this anthology I especially enjoyed include Ron Adner and Daniel C. Crow's "Bold Retreat: A New Strategy for Old Technologies" and "Investing in IT That Makes a Competitive Difference" co-authored by Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson

SUGGESTED READINGS

Enterprise Architecture As Strategy: Creating a Foundation for Business Execution
Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Weill, and David Robertson

World Class IT: Why Businesses Succeed When IT Triumphs
Peter A. High

Open Business Models: How to Thrive in the New Innovation Landscape
Henry Chesbrough

Alignment: Using the Balanced Scorecard to Create Corporate Synergies
Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton

People who are good with computer hardware and software often do not the same types of priorities and motivations as those who run the businesses which employ them, and accordingly large enterprises usually encounter some difficulty in making Information Technology work well within the context of the business. This book provides a collection of eight articles published in the past decade addressing these issues. Some of the ideas discussed:

* Jeanne Ross and Peter Weill: A company's management team as a whole must take responsibility for particular strategic decisions regarding IT, rather than simply delegating those decisions to the IT department.
* Charlie Feld and Donna Stoddard: Effective use of IT requires a long-term IT renewal plan linked to corporate strategy, a simplified unifying corporate technology platform, and a highly functional performance-oriented IT organization
* Nicholas Carr: There is no longer much advantage to be gained from IT now that everyone has it. To avoid overinvesting: spend less; follow, don't lead; and focus on risks, not opportunities.
* Ron Adner and Daniel Snow: It your technology gets superseded, you can still make a bold retreat by focusing on a niche market where the old technology still has advantages or relocating to a new market where the old technology is a superior offering.
* Richard Nolan and Warren McFarlan: The approach which a board takes to IT depends on what strategic mode the company is in. In support mode, IT systems are not critical and expense can be minimised. In factory mode, systems need to be reliable but not state-of-the-art. In turnaround mode, there is big expenditure on IT but reliability is not yet critical. In strategic mode, IT must be reliable but also innovative to provide competitive advantages.
* Thomas Davenport: Competitive success can be gained through sophisticated data collection and analysis, particularly when it involves focused analytics efforts, establishing an analytics culture, hiring the right people and using the right technology.
* Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson: To gain a competitive edge, deploy a consistent technology platform rather than a jumble of legacy systems, innovate better ways of working, and propagate those process innovations throughout the organization.
* Josh Bernoff and Ted Schadler: Companies can free employees to experiment with new technologies if management encourages innovation while managing risk, IT supports and scales employees' projects, and employees act as "highly empowered resourceful operatives".

In my opinion, some of the articles are more helpful than others. Nicholas Carr's advice that IT is now finished and there are no more competitive advantages to be gained has probably not withstood the test of time since it was written in 2003. On the other hand, the last four articles are filled with useful ideas that managers will find helpful in dealing with IT.