Product Description

The Fast Forward MBA in Technology Management brings you the information you need when you need it most-now! This practical, easy-to-use guide gives you instant access to the cutting-edge ideas and hard-won wisdom of one of today's leading experts on information technology (IT). In short, lively segments using real-world examples, it delivers the facts you need to navigate complex IT issues. You'll find brief descriptions of key concepts, tips on real-world applications, compact case studies, perspectives from industry luminaries, and warnings on how to avoid pitfalls. Here are all the tools you need to make technology work for you and your company. Find out:
* Which technologies are most important in running a business today
* How to manage the use and direction of your company's technology choices
* Ways to measure workplace performance with IT
* How leading companies use and manage technology
* And much more
The Portable MBA From the creators of the bestselling Portable MBA series comes The Fast Forward MBA.
* A quick way to brush up on new ideas
* An easy-to-use format that fits in any briefcase
* Real-world information that you can put to use now!
People * Technology * Capital Upside www.upside.com

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #229410 in Books
• Published on: 1998-04-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

From Library Journal
Petrozzo, a technology expert and principal at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., provides managers with a realistic picture of current and emerging information technology (IT). With narration by Meredith MacRae and others, this book focuses on the integration of IT in key processes, administration, the total cost of ownership of IT, how to use and manage IT tools, and navigating across the shifting waves of never-ending upgrades. Real-world examples of stellar companies making the best of this very expensive component of business add value to this useful tool. The program is targeted to CEOs of small to medium-sized businesses struggling to find a way to assure their precious capital is most wisely invested in information resources. As the idea of electronic commerce rapidly moves from an option to a mandate, many CEOs will find the guidelines and strategies here valuable in better understanding IT and how to make it suit their long-term bottom-line goals. Highly recommended for all public libraries.ADale Farris, Groves, TX
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
This title provides clear guidelines for making technology work and for measuring the results. Dan Petrozzo makes a convincing case that a CIO (Chief Information Officer) needs to have greater access than ever before to the CEO because failure to make correct and timely technology decisions can be fatal in today's fast-changing business environment. Petrozzo names the technologies that are most important to a company, outlines ways to measure workplace performance and suggests ways to prevent technology abuse by employees. The production of this tape is particularly good. Richard McGonagle and Richard Cox take turns reading this dense material, making it easier to digest, and Meredith MacRae neatly recaps and summarizes ideas, a welcome female voice. M.D.B. (c) AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From the Publisher
Tough Ideas Made Easy

Customer Reviews

Business focus, brief and filled with points to ponder
This wonderful little book covers a wide range of topics in 240 pages. It is a series of short essays, interviews with industry movers and shakers, and articles by different authors.

The central theme is the business value of technology and how business can harness technology to achieve strategic and tactical goals. Indeed, the first two chapters, The Value of Technology to Business and Managing Your Business with Technology, set the tone. These are followed by chapters that address slices of technology management.

People and Technology, Chapter 3, is the least focused because of the array of topics that are addressed. It covers everything from business roles and responsibilities to the need for corporate policies for e-mail. Included are four case studies of "Stellar Performers" that give best practices. The authors manage to cram this all into 28 pages. They also manage to convey a lot of good information - no mean feat considering the range of topics covered and the page count allotted to each.

Chapter 4, Role of Information Technology, is too short and the material would have been more effective had it been combined with the previous chapter.

Things pick up starting with Chapter 5, which provides excellent advice and food for thought on vendor management. This chapter covers everything from vendor evaluation and selection to relationship management. Each topic is quickly covered, but there are a lot of valuable points made by the contributing authors.

My favorite chapter, 6, covers best practices in technology management. I discovered something new or rediscovered something I knew but forgot in each article, essay and case study.

The final chapter, Emerging Technologies: A Manager's Three Year Plan, is a quick breeze through technology and issues of which managers on the technology and business sides of a company need to be aware (and address). Some of the better articles address information security, data warehousing and java. While these are standard fare, this chapter also addresses subtle issues such as recruiting java developers.

The appendix, titled Measuring Workplace Performance with IT, is a quick read that should have been expanded into a chapter. This was my second favorite part of the book and I hated to see it end.

I obviously like the book and recommend it to business process owners and IT technical experts who aspire to management positions. I gave the book four stars instead of five because some of the material is dated. Specifically, many of the interviews with industry leaders reflect their view and opinions cica 1998 - things change too quickly and it shows in these areas. However, this book is filled with timeless, sound advice, which makes reading it a productive way to spend an evening or lazy weekend afternoon.