Product Description

The high profile failure of major IT-related projects in both private and public sectors underlines the need for stringent change management. As businesses increasingly look to IT to enable that change, Sharm Manwani examines the types of business change processes that involve the use of IT, from the reasons organisations change the way they work, to how that change is identified, managed and implemented. The structure follows a new IT-enabled business change lifecycle which focuses on strategic alignment and delivering benefits rather than implementing a technology solution. All those involved in organisational change need to understand the pitfalls and the critical success factors. The potential audience therefore covers a wide range of business and IT executives, managers, professionals and expert users. The main desired outcome of this book is that it helps those who are involved in IT-enabled business change projects to understand the issues and to be more successful.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44672 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 178 pages

Review
Our ability to successfully enable business change seems inversely proportional to what we invent. This book brings together common sense and best practice to help address this situation. Well worth reading, for IT professionals and business managers alike. --John Suffolk, Her Majesty's Government Chief Information Officer

Review
Dr Sharm Manwani lectures and directs programmes in IT-enabled business change at Henley Business School. He has previously been European CIO of two leading multi-national companies where he directed large international IT-enabled change programmes.

His premise is that most IT projects should be viewed as IT-enabled business change projects. This changes the way they are approached and increases their benefits. With this book, he aims to help those involved in such projects to understand the issues and become more successful.

The book is aimed at all those involved in, or affected by, IT-enabled business change projects. It is intended as an introductory text, with no specific prior knowledge assumed. The book follows the life cycle of change, starting with an overview that considers the major tasks and roles involved in the complete cycle.

The book considers how business and IT alignment can be addressed through the use of simple, tried and tested models. This approach is followed in the chapters on improvement definition, design implementation and benefits management.

The chapter on business change design introduces the basic organisational structure and culture change, process design and structuring information for strategic, tactical and operational levels. This focus follows through into the chapter on implementation.

The final chapter summarises the techniques introduced in earlier chapters and reviews the skills needed in relation to the competency model, Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA).

This book succeeds as an introductory text, most particularly in its description of the entire scope of an IT-enabled change project in a manner that seamlessly integrates organisational and technical discussions. Those not having a basic understanding of some of the techniques (e.g. value chain analysis) or models (e.g. ITIL) may find it helpful to access other sources as they come across the terms. The notes and references at the end will help in locating such sources.

From the Back Cover
Future-proofing your organisation in response to external challenges requires the ability to deliver successful business change. The high profile failure of major IT-related projects in recent times underlines the impact on commercial outcomes. This book explores how IT can be utilised to deliver effective change, providing practical guidance on the entire process, from identification and sponsorship to implementation and benefits review.

Key areas covered include:

* Strategic alignment and execution of change
* The IT-enabled business change lifecycle
* Integrated approach to change
* Skills and techniques needed at each stage
* Key business and IT roles

Dr Sharm Manwani obtained his MBA and Doctorate at Henley Business School, where he now lectures and directs programmes in IT-enabled business change. Previously, he was the European CIO at two leading multinationals, directing large-scale international IT-enabled change programmes, supporting mergers, business process redesign and organisation restructuring.

Customer Reviews

Excellent overview of a difficult, yet very current topic
Having worked in this field for many years, you can easily be forgiven for thinking to khow all there is to know about this subject. This, despite the everyday difficulties we face, and evidence of high profile projects that continue to fail, for a host of common and entirely avoidable reasons. This book helped me to realise where my gaps were and inspired me to get out there and stretch the boundaries of my knowledge and expertise - to try to get it right more often.

The book is easy to read and covers all the main apsects of IT-enabled business change, pulling on traditional approaches, conventional wisdom and leanrnings from hard practical experiences - of success as well as failure. It doesn't perport to be a handbook with all of the answers, but it's a great summary of everything that you should be considering and doing for your company or your clients.

Any practitioner will quickly realise that it provides a solid framework that can usefully guide personal development, as well as helping to manage change project better. If you have well established methodology for this, let the book test that and challenge some of the standards you work to.

Right now, the UK in particluar is waking up to the potential economic benefits of fully exploiting IT investments - and the wasted opportunities of the past - getting IT-enabled business change right lies at the heart of the issue. It is very timely that Sharm Manwani shoudl write this book.

This is an essential read for everyone interested in this field, no matter how experienced.

Treasure Chest
This book is a treasure chest of approaches and techniques for assisting readers tackle the myriad of issues associated with IT-enabled business change. It is astonishing just how much has been packed so lucidly for all audiences into just 150 pages.