A Framework for the Strategic Use of I/T to Transform Business Projects

Making I/T Work offers managers basic guidance and an effective model for making the right choices when considering implementing information-based business projects. In this book, Dennis Severance and Jacque Passino provide business leaders with a framework of organizational change that places the problems of change into a context so that they can be effectively addressed and outlines a proven framework that can be adapted to a variety of situations.

Making I/T Work offers managers

• A framework for managing I/T investment opportunities
• Fifty helpful questions for leading a program of strategic change
• Guidance for overcoming the powerful blocks to changes in infrastructure
• Suggestions for formulating a winning strategy
• A model for preparing and implementing a project
• Information on how to assess the success of a program

Making I/T Work can help managers guide a strategic I/T transformation with a plan that is based on a strong sense of objective and a credible assessment of current realities.

Dennis G. Severance is the Accenture Professor of Computer and Information Systems in the University of Michigan Business School, where he has served as the chairman of the computer and information systems faculty and the director of the Information Systems Executive Forum. Severance serves on the board of directors of Tenneco Automotive. He has lectured in executive development seminars throughout the United States and internationally and has consulted on issues of information technology implementation with more than fifty corporations.

Jacque Passino is the first director to lead the state of Michigan's Department of Information Technology. Formerly he was a partner with Accenture. His expertise includes extensive experience with large-scale change programs, which included global responsibilities in the chemical, utility and energy industry sectors.

Series Foreword

Preface

1 The Promise and Challenge of I/T Investment 1

2 Managing Organizational Change 33

3 Formulating Strategy 59

4 Preparing and Implementing Projects 91

5 Reacting to Abrupt Changes in Strategic Priorities 135

6 Assessing Success and Failure 169

7 Conclusions and Implications 191

The Authors 209

Index 211