Implementing World Class IT Strategy
High’s follow-up to World Class IT focuses on execution: how to build an IT strategy that starts from the business plan rather than from the technology. The sequence he insists on sounds obvious and is routinely violated. First understand where the company intends to make money, then derive the capabilities that requires, and only then talk about systems. Most IT strategies I have seen run the other direction, starting from a platform decision and reverse-engineering a business justification.
The frameworks for aligning IT strategy with business goals are practical, and they address the real problem most IT organizations have, which is not a shortage of ideas but a shortage of alignment. High is also clear-eyed about the mechanics: the interviews with business leaders, the roadmaps written in revenue language, the governance that keeps a portfolio honest. None of it is glamorous, and all of it is the actual job.
This book maps more directly onto my work than anything else on this shelf. As CIO of a commercial print and fulfillment business, the test I apply to our roadmap comes straight out of High’s argument: can I explain every major initiative in terms of clients won, retained, or served more profitably? The work I am proudest of passes that test easily. Client integrations and storefronts are sales capability that happens to be built by IT. Our security certifications exist because clients require them of their vendors, not because the frameworks are enjoyable. When IT strategy is derived from the business plan, the budget conversation changes character entirely; you stop defending a cost center and start prioritizing investments.
Worth reading for IT leaders who want their function treated as a strategic asset instead of operational support. The uncomfortable message is that the treatment is earned, not requested, and this book is a fair manual for earning it.