1. Corporate Information Strategy & Management
IT is a source of opportunity and advantage but also uncertainty and risk
Chasm between viewpoints
Business executives: IT detached from real business problems
Technical executives: Business leaders lack vision
Undeniable rapidity of change
In system architecture and interfaces
In business
In work and the workforce
Information technology (IT) has always been a wildcard in business, a source of opportunity and uncertainty, of advantage and risk. Business executives have often viewed the IT function with apprehension, as the province of technocrats primarily interested in new features that may have little relevance to real-world business problems. Technology executives have often considered business managers to be shortsighted, lacking the vision to exploit all that technology has to offer. Both struggle as they attempt to implement increasingly complex systems in the face of rapid change in business and technology.
And yet we have, since the inception of business computing, tightened our embrace of IT—and for good reason. Despite exasperating moments, technology has become embedded in the way we define and execute strategy, in how we organize and lead businesses, and how we define a unique value proposition.
We are, as many believe, in a period of profound upheaval as we shift from an industrial to an information economy. Although information technology (IT) has evolved over several decades, we are now experiencing a period of radical change as the cumulative impacts of technological, organization, social, and economic adaptations coalesce.

2. The Embedding of IT IT now embedded in:
Definition and execution of strategy
Organization and leadership of businesses
Definitions of unique value propositions
IT is changing our understanding of:
Markets
Industries
Strategies
Firm designs
Information is now a major economic good
However divided business leaders may be on the subject of technology, it has become embedded in the way we define and execute strategy, in how we organize and lead businesses, and in how we define a unique value proposition. The co-evolution of technology, work, and the workforce over the past 40 years has dramatically influenced our concept of organizations and the industries within which they compete. No longer is IT just a tool to support back-office transactions. IT is strategic with a capital “S”: It is forcing the redefinition of markets and industries as well as the strategies and designs of firms competing within those industries. We are becoming increasingly used to a world in which information zooms around the world in seconds. Time zones have been compacted, to the extent that distance and time have become much less significant as limitations on our ability to define and execute business strategy.[1] Information itself has become a major economic good, frequently exchanged along with, or even in place of, tangible goods and services.
[1]Friedman, T. The World is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the 21st Century, Picador Publishing, 2007.

3. Riding the IT Rollercoaster
Mid 1990s:
World Wide Web demonstrated IT potential
Structural and technical hurdles remained in using IT
Late 1990s:
Capital markets caught the fever
VCs eager to spend on IT, regardless of long-term path to profitability
21st Century:
Speculative bubble burst
Downward spiral until 2003
The recent decade has added considerably to the mystique and the magic of IT. Something dramatic happened to technology in the 1990s, although it is probably too early to discern the full impact. After gaining access to the World Wide Web, many executives felt the light of understanding switch on. The boom of the late 1990s followed, creating “20-something” billionaires and newly public firms with market capitalizations in the billions of dollars though they had no discernible path to profitability. Had the information age overturned the most fundamental of economic principles that guided how we built and managed companies?
The dawn of the new century answered that question: the speculative bubble burst; more than a scribble on the back of a napkin was indeed necessary to build a company. By that time, our embrace of IT was very tight. As the bubble burst, the world economy spiraled downward, not reaching bottom until 2003.

4. What Now? What we know: What we need to do:
World is forever changed; IT will never return to the basement
Technology as core enabler, primary business channel
Global village is here to stay
Rigid organization boundaries have fallen
What we need to do:
Engage in sense-making of the transformation
Mine the last decade of business experimentation
Synthesize in order to choose a path forward
We all know how much the world has changed. IT has burst forth from the basements of corporations. Business executives have begun to wrest control from IT executives who have failed to step up to the challenge of entering the boardroom. Technology has become a core enabler and, in some cases, the primary channel through which business is done. The world is smaller and the “global” village” is quickly becoming a reality. Physical location matters less than it did. Borders and boundaries, ownership and control have become less rigid. The last decade has offered examples of IT-enabled “virtual” organizations in which many small, independent firms band together as nodes on an information network to achieve dramatic increases in scope and scale. Such arrangements challenge both our legal and social definitions of an organization as business practice out-paces legal and regulatory policy—especially in areas like international competitiveness and trade, intellectual property, privacy, security, family, community, education, and culture.
What we need to do now, after such a rollercoaster ride, is to take the time to synthesize and engage in sense-making. The last decade has been a period of intense experimentation and should be mined as a rich vein of potential learning. Many new models were tried. Many of them failed. We should attempt to understand it all—the successes and the failures.
Our objective is to help business executives recognize the tremendous potential of technology in creating business advantage and to help them assume a leadership role in IT-enabled business transformation. And we wish to help IT executives assume leadership positions, not just in defining and executing technology strategy and managing the IT function, but also in defining and executing business strategy.

5. Let the Story Telling Begin
This book examines stories of executives who are exploring uncharted waters
Through the lens of the decades of research and experience of the authors
Through rich dialogue during class discussion of chapters, cases, and articles
This book is full of case examples of executives who accepted the challenge and are venturing forth into uncharted waters. To mine these stories for what they can tell us about setting strategy and shaping contemporary organizations, we draw on years of research and experience. In addition, the class discussions themselves will create much of value, as we meld our different viewpoints and experiences. Let us begin!

6. Focal Themes IT and Business Advantage The Business of IT
IT impacts the business through its effects on the three components of the business model: strategy, capabilities, and value
The Business of IT
Managing IT operations, services, and project delivery requires managing trade-offs among costs, opportunities, and risks
IT Leadership
High-level management, leadership, and governance activities set the context for leveraging IT-enabled strategic insight and ensuring IT operational excellence
Module 1: IT and Business Advantage addresses the approaches executives use, decisions they make, and issues they face as they attempt to leverage IT to create business advantage. The module introduces the concept of a business model as a key framework that guides executive decision making and action. It then discusses the impact of 21st century IT on the three key components of a business model—strategy, capabilities, and value. The objective of Module 1 is to provide key frameworks and tools for understanding the impact of IT on business advantage.
Module 2: The Business of IT shifts the focus from the impact of IT on business to the business of IT. The module examines the changing technology infrastructure and its impact on front-line operations. The chapters in this module examine how emerging technologies influence approaches to managing IT assets, projects, and risks. The objective of Module 2 is to provide key frameworks and tools for understanding how to manage the business of IT.
Module 3: IT Leadership enables exploration of the responsibilities, obligations, and expectations of IT leaders as they exploit today’s IT solutions and services to drive business advantage. The module discusses general IT governance matters, including strategic alignment, compliance and risk management, and relates these to more tactical IT management activities. The objective of Module 3 is to address issues facing 21st century IT leaders.