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The Business of IT: How to Improve Service and Lower Costs 1st Edition

by Robert Ryan (Author), Tim Raducha-Grace

4.2 11 ratings

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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.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert Ryan is a senior practitioner in the IBM Global Business Services, Strategy & Change consulting practice. He has spent the past 25 years consulting to government and commercial organizations supporting change initiatives. He advises clients on strategic planning, culture transformation, balanced scorecard development and implementation, program/project management, process reengineering and process improvement, performance management communications/outreach, and facilitation. He is ITIL certified, and is focused on applying business discipline through practical solutions in IT organizations. Mr. Ryan has provided services to the Department of Defense; the United States Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and the Defense Logistics Agency; a mix of federal civilian agencies; state governments; electric utilities, oil, nuclear power, coal mining; and financial institutions. He has supported all aspects of large-scale change initiatives, and has managed consulting engagements ranging from large-scale change initiatives, to small, limited-scope engagements. He has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree in finance from the University of Maryland, and a Bachelor of Accountancy (B.A.) degree from George Washington University. He is also a Certified Public Accountant (inactive license), and has spoken at a number of professional conferences on a range of consulting topics.

Tim Raducha-Grace is a managing consultant within IBM Systems and Technology Group’s Lab Services and Training Consulting Practice. He advises government, commercial, and nonprofit organizations on the business value of IT investments and how to leverage these investments to achieve business objectives. He is ITIL certified and helps clients to improve service levels through following ITSM best practices, including ITIL. He also helps clients improve their financial performance through business cases, IT charging processes, and other financial tools to measure the business value of IT. Mr. Raducha-Grace previously served as associate director of New York University’s Center for Catastrophe Preparedness, where he led interdisciplinary research efforts on crisis management and disaster recovery. He also served as a policy advisor to Senator Susan M. Collins, the chairwoman of the Senate Governmental Affairs and Homeland Security Committee, for a range of issues, including science and technology programs, first responders, and government efficiency. He has an MBA degree in finance and marketing from the New York University (NYU) Stern School of Business and a Bachelor degree in Asian studies and political science from Beloit College. He also studied at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ibm Press; 1st edition (September 18, 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 292 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0137000618
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0137000616
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.9 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.8 x 5.9 x 8.9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,912,761 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,289 in Computers & Technology Industry
- #28,036 in Business & Finance
- #193,590 in Unknown

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4.2 11 ratings

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Robert Ryan

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Robert Ryan, senior practitioner in the IBM Global Business Services, Strategy and Change consulting practice, has spent 25 years consulting in support of change initiatives of all sizes and types. He advises clients on strategic planning, culture transformation, balanced scorecard development and management, program/project management, process reengineering and process improvement, performance management, outreach and facilitation. He has consulted widely with the U.S. military, federal and state civilian agencies, and the energy and financial industries.

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Dwayne B. Lewis

Great book, I really enjoyed this book as well ...

Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2017

Verified Purchase

Great book, I really enjoyed this book as well as the course that required it use. I read the entire book in the 8 week course, and I walked away with a deeper understanding of how business and technology will integrate in the future.

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Lew

More Business Gobbledygook

Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2010

I've been a practicing network engineer for over 20 years, but admittedly have little experience with the business end of IT or networking. Also I have very little business training in general and find most of the business literature a mix of common sense (at best) and meaningless jargon (at worst). I'm about 30 pages into this book, so maybe it will improve, and I will keep with it because the selection of rigorous materials on this topic seems limited and I have to learn more about ITIL. But when I encounter diagrams such as Figure 2-4 on page 29, I can't help but have a sinking feeling. The figure is a hodgepodge of ovals, curly braces, arrows, and text labels. On the left side of the diagram, underneath a horizontal brace labeled "Service Pipeline," there are four ovals, one large and shaded and the others small and unshaded. There are also three horizontal arrows pointing right, one vertical arrow pointing down, and six individual text labels. One text label appears clearly associated with a dashed line to the extreme left of the figure. Two of the others are in the large oval but neither is in the center, or bolded, or otherwise clearly indicated as identifying the big oval; what does the big oval represent? The other three labels are in white space not clearly referring to anything. What do the small unfilled ovals represent? Are they representative of "market spaces," one of the text labels? Are they "customers," another text label? Or are they services which are transiting the Service Pipeline? What are the arrows supposed to show? The overwhelming sensation is that text labels and graphics are thrown together in a stewpot comprising a vaguely evocative blend: we mix these ingredients together and presto, we have the ITIL Service Portfolio. Another example, this of the rudderless directionality of the book's argument: at the beginning of chapter 2, the authors note that they are focusing their discussion of ITIL on a subset of the total framework: "We specifically focus on how to use elements of service strategy, service design, and continual service improvement" (p. 18), and then print a list of eight ITIL processes they focus on, consisting of Service Strategy, Service portfolio management, Demand management, Service catalog management, Service level management, Change management, Request Fulfillment, and Continual Service Improvement. Well, according to "An Introductory Overview of ITIL®V3," published by the IT Service Management Forum, Service portfolio management and Demand management are two of the three key processes of Service Strategy, Service Catalog management and Service level management are just two of the seven key processes of Service Design, Change management is one of several processes belonging to Service Transition, Request Fulfillment is one of five key processes of Service Operation. Why is this not noted in a book with such a large emphasis on ITIL? If Service Design is a focus of the ITIL approach to improving service and lowering cost, why are only two of the seven key Service Design processes included? Isn't Supplier Management (another of the key Service Design processes) also important to lowering cost? How about IT Service Continuity Management's role in improving (or at least maintaining) service? We should expect at least a comprehensive introduction of the entire ITIL framework, followed by some justification for the claim that these processes are the keys to lowering costs and improving service. Well, 260 pages more to go...

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I. Swift

Icing on the cake for any serious ITIL practioner...

Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2009

In my work experience, in working with ITIL related efforts within the public sector, there is very little thought given to advising clients on how to synthesize data output produced by the ITIL version 3 processes. Most consultants attempt to help the client establish Event Management, Incident Management & Configuration Management processes and then move on to other engagements without instructing the client that measuring every task, item or action can be somewhat pointless without organizational context in which each process operates. While establishing these types of processes is important to allow an organization to gain control of itself, these same processes and their resulting outputs can often, in fact, be deleterious to the organization from an efficiency and budgetary standpoint by overburdening those tasked with owning these processes, especially if the dysfunctional organizational culture has not changed post process implementation.

Understanding and synthesizing the process outputs, by subsequently converting those data sets into knowledge, in order to gain a wiser understanding of the human systems that support IT systems is where best practices like ITIL shine and show their true worth. This book sets the reader on a track that will facilitate a better understanding of how to achieve this type of wisdom and perhaps actually give the reader the ability to see the ITIL approach as a pioneering discipline in this industry we call IT.

3 people found this helpful

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Kevin J. Creed

Practical Guidance on IT Transformation!!!

Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2009

This book provides a wealth of information on proven methodologies and frameworks that can guide IT leadership through the process of transforming its relationship with its customers. It then backs that up with real world, step by step ways to apply them.

This book is especially helpful for those organizations seeking to improve IT business practices such as ITIL, IT financial management, and IT performance management and don't know where to start or would like to improve existing practices. For example, chapter 4 on IT Financial management provides specific guidance on how to better understand IT costs and value, and put an IT Financial management process in place to maximize your IT investments.

This is a must read for any Senior IT Leader or IT processional that is interested in ITIL or IT financial management with the goal of to predictably and repeatedly meet customer objectives, lower costs and have the data to prove it!

3 people found this helpful

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