The book State of the eUnion: Government 2.0 and Onwards was released at 00:00 CET on 18th November 2009. Edited by John Gøtze and Christian Bering Pedersen, and foreworded by Don Tapscott, the book is a cornucopia of ideas and experiences from thought-leaders on three continents.
In an age of rapidly changing technology, shifting global opportunities, and activist shareholders, executives are expected to respond quickly. These executives are seeking tools that will allow them to keep a step ahead of changes in the business environment, because they are critically aware of the fact that slow change equals slow death.Organizational Change in 100 Days: A Fast Forward Guide is one such tool. Developed to be used as a companion to Fast Forward: Organizational Change in 100 Days, this book provides exercises and worksheets that will allow the reader to develop and implement a plan for organizational change. This guide’s flexible format can be used either in groups or by individuals, and will be especially useful to facilitators, trainers, and consultants who work with companies on change strategies.
The book introduces the idea of Coherency Management, and asserts that this is the primary outcome goal of an enterprise’s architecture. With submissions from over 30 authors and co-authors, the book reinforces the idea that EA is being practiced in an ever-increasing variety of circumstances – from the tactical to the strategic, from the technical to the political, and with governance that ranges from sell to tell. The characteristics, usages, value statements, frameworks, rules, tools and countless other attributes of EA seem to be anything but orderly, definable, classifiable, and understandable as might be hoped given heritage of EA and the famous framework and seminal article on the subject by John Zachman over two decades ago. Notably, EA is viewed as an Enterprise Design and Management approach, adopted to build better enterprises, rather than a IT Design and Management approach limited to build better systems.
How to use information and communication technologies in organizations and how to manage their impact has been the traditional domain of computer specialists and management consultants. The former have offered multiple ways to represent, model, and build applications that would streamline and accelerate data flows, while the latter have been busy linking the deployment of ICT’s with strategy and the redesign of business processes. This book takes quite a different approach altogether. In a series of essays, Ciborra uses a string of metaphors–such as Bricolage, Krisis, Gestall, etc. — to place a concern for human existence and our working lives at the center of the study of ICTs and their diffusion in business organizations, and looks at our practices, improvizations, and moods. He draws upon his own extensive research and consulting experience to throw a fresh light on some key questions: why are systems ambiguous? Why do they not give us more time to do things? Is there strategic value in tinkering even in high-tech settings? What is the value of age-old practices in dealing with new technologies? What is the role of moods and affections in influencing action and cognition? Labyrinths of Information presents an alternative to the current approaches in management, software-engineering, and strategy that will be of interest to all those concerned with the deployment of ICTs in society today — whether as users, managers, designers, policy makers or the merely curious.
Digitization of business interactions and processes is advancing full bore. But in many organizations, returns from IT investments are flatlining, even as technology spending has skyrocketed. These challenges call for new levels of IT savvy: the ability of all managers-IT or non-IT-to transform their company’s technology assets into operational efficiencies that boost margins. Companies with IT-savvy managers are 20 percent more profitable than their competitors. In IT Savvy, Peter Weill and Jeanne Ross-two of the world’s foremost authorities on using IT in business-explain how non-IT executives can acquire this savvy. Concise and practical, the book describes the practices, competencies, and leadership skills non-IT managers need to succeed in the digital economy. You’ll discover how to: -Define your firm’s operating model-how IT can help you do business -Revamp your IT funding model to support your operating model -Build a digitized platform of business processes, IT systems, and data to execute on the model -Determine IT decision rights -Extract more business value from your IT assets Packed with examples and based on research into eighteen hundred organizations in more than sixty countries, IT Savvy is required reading for non-IT managers seeking to push their company’s performance to new heights.
Firms are investing considerable resources to create large information infrastructures able to fulfil their varied information-processing and communication needs. The more the drive towards globalization, the more such infrastructures become crucial.The ‘wiring’ of the corporation should be done in a way that is aligned with its corporate strategy-it is global and generates value. This book presents six in-depth case studies of large corporations-AstraZeneca, IBM, Norsk Hydro, Roche, SKF, and Statoil-which offer a rich picture of the main issues involved in information infrastructure implementation and management. Far from being a linear process, the use of the information infrastructure is in fact an open-ended process, in many cases out of control. Current management models and consulting advice do not seem to be able to cope with such a business landscape. This book provides the reader with interpretations and theories that can foster a different understanding and approach.
