“Business-Focused IT” is changing the way many organisations assess and manage IT.  The concepts encapsulated within the approach help us not just to achieve more successful business outcomes today but they will help us to manage services better into the future as the business and IT lanscape changes.

As the author I am often asked how the journey started.  I had joined a manufacturing company as a general management trainee eventually opting to build a career in IT.  During my early years in IT management my senior manager was something of a recluse and annoyed the business by demanding detailed specifications whenever they requested changes. I became the conduit for the business, the acceptable face of IT management, and it remained thus throughout my time with that company.  As my career progressed I found value in developing these business-focused skills as well as my IT-focused ones and as I became more senior these became a greater asset.  From the outset ITDYNAMICS™ was based on revitalising software and services organisations.  It was after all what I had been doing for the previous twenty years in a variety of contexts from IT management for internal services organisations to Commercial Director and Sales and Marketing Director for commercial solutions and services providers. Whilst being a practitioner of management consultancy, change management and IT management I was formulating an approach to value creation which I and eventually others could follow. 

The early attempts consisted of a number of white papers that could be accessed via the web site.  In 2005 I brought these together into a single self published volume.  This first book (now no longer available) identified the perception gap between business and IT, the need for a business focus, the importance of business outcomes not just process (i.e. as Theodore Levitt said, “holes not drill bits”) and an assessment process based on a service engine framework – a far more hollistic approach than anything that had been published before by any other organisation.  The book became something of a cult read and in the meantime I was continuing to gather more material as my work offered more challenges not just in management consultancy and interim CIO roles but leading business change as interim CEO and COO. So when the British Computer Society asked me if I would consider writing a second edition I knew that I had to accept.  My early research identified the most significant factor contributing to the successful business outcome of an IT change programme or project. This can now be defined measured and improved. With a global annual spend on IT in the region of $3.4 trillion (a recent Gartner forecast for 2010) and success rates stubbornly low at 30-35% (Standish 2009 Chaos Report and other reports since 1970) we are not only addressing the perception gap but also a reality gap that globally could be as big as $2.2 trillion.  

The book is now also available worldwide and CIO magazine recommends that it should be on every CIO’s ‘to read’ pile.  Since publishing I have spoken at public and private events across the UK and in Europe, the USA, Russia, and the Middle East.  Events attract audiences interested not just in the excellence of IT governance, IT alignment, IT management, change management, and IT service improvement but in the areas of software engineering, SOA, cloud computing and futures generally.   

There is now an ongoing research programme funded by ITDYNAMICS™ designed to maximise the business impact of IT.  This will enable us to further develop the IT service model and to add even more client value. 

To speak to someone from ITDYNAMICS™ Ltd about how you might benefit from our work please either email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 0845 095 7818.

David Miller