TABLE OF CONTENTS The subject of this book is the performance management of information technology (IT). It addresses the way organizations should balance the demand and the supply of information technology, optimizing the cost and maximizing the business value of IT.
We have written this book because we feel that this is the time to make a comprehensive overview of the thoughts and theories of multiple disciplines in the field of strategic management, financial management and information technology. Of course the idea of combining these three disciplines is not unique. In the early 1990s, the application of business economics techniques for information technology, referred to as Information Economics (named after the publication of Parker, Benson and Trainor, 1988), was popular. Ten years later, a lot has happened. It s time for an update.
In business strategy, the balanced scorecard approach has received high popularity and is used by a large number of organizations throughout the world. In the financial management profession, a lot of progress has been made in value-based management approaches, especially dealing with total shareholders return. The focus on shareholder value and the stock markets has forced financial institutions around the world to improve their portfolio management practices. Another wave has been the spread of usage of activity-based costing, improving the way the resources of an organization are reflected in its product prices.
In information technology, the 1990s have witnessed an impressive improvement of service management practices within IT companies. However, this progress has been blurred by the dazzling speed...
