| Six IT decisions your IT people shouldn't make. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 12422792 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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Senior managers often feel frustration--even exasperation--toward information technology and their IT departments. The managers complain that they don't see much business value from the high-priced systems they install, but they don't understand the technology well enough to manage it in detail. So they often leave IT people to make, by default, choices that affect the company's business strategy. The frequent result? Too many projects, a demoralized IT unit, and disappointing returns on IT investments. What distinguishes companies that generate substantial value from their IT investments from those that don't? The leadership of senior managers in making six key IT decisions. The first three relate to strategy: How much should we spend on IT? Which business processes should receive our IT dollars? Which IT capabilities need to be companywide? The second three relate to execution: How good do our IT services really need to be? Which security and privacy risks will we accept? Whom do we blame if an IT initiative fails? When senior managers aren't involved in these decisions, the results can be profound. For example, if they don't take the lead in deciding which IT initiatives to fund, they end up overloading the IT department with projects that may not further the company's strategy. And if they aren't assessing security and privacy risks, they are ignoring crucial business trade-offs. Smart companies are establishing IT governance structures that identify who should be responsible for critical IT decisions and ensure that such decisions further IT's strategic role in the organization. |
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Authors:
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Jeanne W Ross; Peter Weill |
Publication Detail:
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Type: Journal Article |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Harvard business review Volume: 80 ISSN: 0017-8012 ISO Abbreviation: Harv Bus Rev Publication Date: 2002 Nov |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2002-11-08 Completed Date: 2002-12-02 Revised Date: 2007-11-15 |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 9875796 Medline TA: Harv Bus Rev Country: United States |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 84-91, 133 Citation Subset: H |
Affiliation:
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Center for Information Systems Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology's, Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. |
Export Citation:
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| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
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Administrative Personnel Capital Expenditures Decision Making, Organizational* Efficiency, Organizational Guidelines as Topic Information Management / economics, manpower* Information Systems / organization & administration* United States |
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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