|
Title:
Mastering the Digital Market Place
Review:
At a TFPL New York Business Information conference a couple of years
ago Donald Marchand, Professor of Information Management and Strategy
at the IMD business school in Lausanne gave a most interesting
presentation on the ways in which information can create significant
business value. One of the points he made at that time, and to which
he returns in the introduction to this book, is that general and
senior managers have a critical role in leading and managing a company
to use information in this way. Professor Marchand also described his
Strategic Information Alignment (SIA) framework which is a conceptual
model that assists managers to ask three key questions.
- Why is information important to competing in business today and in the future?
- What priorities for information use and management are appropriate?
- How should managers implement their strategic priorities and achieve improved business performance through people, information and IT?
I have been using this SIA framework (with acknowledgement) in my
presentations on intranet strategy development, and it works, but
until now the only reference to the framework had been in a series on
Mastering Information that the Financial Times published in early
1999.
After two scene-setting chapters by Professor Marchand the core of the
book consists of ten chapters dealing with the four axes of the SIA
framework, each of which is a way of putting information to work for
competitive advantage, namely adding value with customers, creating
new reality, reducing costs, and minimising risks. These chapters are
then followed by five more where the emphasis is on the practical
application of the basic principles of the SIA framework.
Do not be put of for one moment by the fact that this book consists of
individual chapters by business school professors! First the use of
the SIA framework enables all the chapters to have a common focus and
vocabulary. Second these professors clearly work in the real world,
and have listened to, and learned from, their students, clients and
each other. A helpful touch is that e-mail addresses are given for
each of the authors.
Within each chapter the format is also consistent, with selected case
histories (mostly quite current and familiar), concise analysis,
practical guidance on management responsibilities and actions, and a
set of questions that can be used to assess the performance of the
company against current best practice and to set a framework for a
company information management strategy.
I was initially disappointed that role of corporate information
departments, and the use of commercial information services is
scarcely mentioned in the book. On reflection I decided that good
managers reading this book and wanting to achieve best practice in the
use of information will soon recognise the contribution that
information professionals can make without.
I have two small criticisms. First the important benchmark questions
are printed in a lighter tone than the main text, making them
difficult to read, a very poor piece of typographic design. Second,
although there are some literature references at the end of each
chapter they are few in number and are often to short news items in
newspapers and magazines. Business school case studies are also cited,
which are often not in the public domain.
The amount of expertise packed into the book is quite extraordinary,
and yet it is very readable. I recommend you buy as many copies as
you have senior managers, because reading this book and putting in
effect the advice of its authors will have a very positive effect on
the performance of your organisation.
Free Pint Reviewer:
Martin White is Managing Director of Intranet Focus Ltd.
(www.intranetfocus.com). The company provides services in strategic
intranet and corporate portal design, and in the development of
networked delivery strategies for publishers of both business and
scientific information services. He is a member of the Editorial Board
of the International Journal of Information Management and on the
Executive Board of Online Information 2000. He has recently
contributed articles to Free Pint on Knowledge Management and on
Portals.
Related Free Pint Links:
Purchase options:
Readers Comments:
- Have you read this book?
- What did you think?
Let us know your thoughts and we'll post them above ...
| 
