Product Description

Information Technology is one of the major costs for businesses in the 21st Century and yet it is allowed to operate without the usual cost controls imposed on other departments. The last few years have seen huge investment in IT with the lead-up to Y2K, the explosion of e-business and the increased dependence on IT business systems. But is it delivering the goods? It is hard for senior management without specialist IT knowledge to judge the value of IT spend. As we enter a period of economic slowdown, managers need to increase their efforts to manage costs. IT can no longer expect to be exempt. Senior managers will find this briefing an invaluable guide to imposing normal cost discipline on IT spend -- within the IT department or elsewhere -- without the need for technical knowledge of IT. IT managers will also find it useful in implementing their own cost management programmes. Contents include: * The opportunity and rewards of managing IT costs * Outline of a project to manage IT costs * Guidelines on implementing tasks * Cost allocations and their effect on real costs * IT strategy review * Outsourcing, ASPs and Internet in IT cost management

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1175208 in Books
• Published on: 2000-03-20
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 1.39 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 214 pages

Review
"In most businesses in which I have been involved throughout my auditing career there has been a certain mysticism attached to IT. Even in this modern age there are many managers who continue to regard a computer as a magic black box. Where they have learnt how to switch a pc on, there are not many who hand on heart understand the technology. Nor should they be expected to. And yet not many of these same managers would dream of entering into a major capital project without a full cashflow analysis or establishing a project management programme. The IT department in any business is a key part of the undertaking. But it can easily become a bottomless pit. Instead of adding value to the business it can fast become a runaway cost. Taking Control of IT Costs is an excellent model for the layman to get to grips with the pitfalls. " Colin Harris CA (SA), Director of Internal Audit & Business Continuity, St. John Ambulance, London

Book Info
Presents a practical guide to understanding and managing IT costs and increasing IT efficiency, getting better value from your IT budget. Demonstrates how to achieve this and thus reduce IT costs while improving business performance. Softcover.

From the Back Cover
In both public and private sectors, many managers are becoming increasingly concerned at escalating IT costs. This book aims to provide quick, practical help to business managers at all levels to enable them to understand and control IT costs, empowering them to reduce the budget, if that is the aim, or to ensure that an increased spend on IT delivers extra business benefits.

The two main causes of IT over-spend are, firstly, insufficient technical knowledge at management level and the subsequent inability to understand and control IT costs, and, secondly, inadequate internal cost allocation systems that simply cannot cope with complex IT costings.

This accessible 'how-to' book, based on the author's extensive experience, introduces a tried and tested nine-month program that will lead to a sound understanding of real IT costs and the ability to align IT spend with actual business needs. Using this programme, non-technical business managers will be able to improve their assessment of the management and operations of their IT departments, and to implement any changes necessary to improve performance.