Two expert views on the power of IT to transform business.

IT-Driven Business Models: Global case studies in transformation

Henning Kagermann, Hubert Osterle & John M Jordan

The rapid pace of technological advancement is empowering innovative business models that are transforming the ways companies are able to drive value for their customers — and therefore themselves. That is the central tenet of IT-Driven Business Models, whose primary author, Henning Kagermann, was the CEO of German ERP software giant SAP until 2009. It examines a wide variety of emerging business constructs that CIOs would do well to grasp if they are to be more than just operational heads of IT.

As might be expected from such a renowned CEO, each chapter switches effortlessly from big-picture concepts — macroeconomic trends such as the shift from the traditional vertical company towards business ecosystems based on collaborative networks — to illustrative case studies from dozens of the world’s most impressive organizations, including ABB, Apple, IKEA, LEGO and Telefónica. As such, it provides a truly global perspective (if a somewhat ERP-biased one) on the way IT is powering business innovation. This standpoint, combined with an expert’s appreciation of technology’s transformative role, makes for a text that really gets to grips with how the businesses of the future will either succeed or fail.

For an extract from this book, on P&G’s open innovation expertise, see Case Studies.

Blind Spot: A leader’s guide to IT-enabled business transformation

Charlie Feld

Charlie Feld is something of a hero to CEOs and CFOs. When their IT operations have been going badly wrong — diluting value rather than supporting its creation — they have called in Feld’s turnaround team to run the IT function under contract, to align it with business goals and then (typically after a year or two) hand it over to a handpicked, in-house unit as a renewed, best-in-class entity.

The Feld Group did that at Burlington Northern Railroad and electricity company Westinghouse, and parachuted its teams in to run IT at Coca-Cola, Southwest Airlines, Home Depot, Coors and numerous other companies (before being acquired in 2004). The secret behind those turnarounds was Feld’s IT management framework. Developed when he was CIO at Frito-Lay, the PepsiCo snacks division, it “significantly improved the odds of success for big IT-enabled business transformation.”  Critically, it also helps to eliminate IT as a “blind spot” for business leaders.

Feld’s highly accessible book explores the four “planks for change” behind his approach, and maps those onto five phases that pace its execution. It also provides plenty of evidence of the framework’s effectiveness  in a series of in-depth case studies on companies he has worked with.

But Blind Spot is not only about re-aligning IT; its main thrust is on ensuring that IT becomes a highly visible and well-understood part of every business leader’s knowledge-base, with Feld concluding that  “after 50 years, it is time to manage this profession in a more structured and understandable way.”  Few in IT would disagree.

Also recommended...

Business in the Cloud: What every business needs to know about cloud computing

Michael Hugos & Derek Hulitzky

An exploration of the impact of cloud in the enterprise for “recovering complexaholics.”

Overconnected: Where to draw the line at being online

William Davidow

How the Internet is distorting economics, politics and our lives, by a genuine digital visionary.