IT SAVVY

What Top Executives Must Know to Go from Pain to Gain

Peter Weill and Jeanne W. Ross


Digitization of Business Requires Companies to Become IT Savvy.  A new book was released in August of this by MIT Sloan Researchers Helps Managers Boost Margins with Technology.

In the next few decades, one of the biggest opportunities and challenges will be the digitization of business. As IT spending increases and virtually every business interaction becomes increasingly digitized, new levels of IT savvy will be required for all managers – both IT and non-IT -- to transform firms’ technology into a strategic asset that boosts margins.

In IT Savvy: What Top Executives Must Know to Go from Pain to Gain, Peter Weill and Jeanne W. Ross help companies prepare for this transformation. They explain what it means to be an IT-savvy leader and firm, why it’s important to be IT savvy, and how to become more IT savvy. Based on field research in 1,800 organizations in more than 60 countries, the authors describe the practices, competencies, and leadership skills that non-IT managers need to succeed in an increasingly digital world.

The authors boil down what it takes to become IT savvy into three steps. The first is to fix what is broken by actively managing the IT portfolio and assigning clear decision rights and accountability.

 The second step is creating a digitized platform for business execution and innovation.  And the third is to exploit the platform for profitable growth.

Based on their combined years of research and experience, the book shows how being IT savvy pays off and gives readers comfort, courage, and confidence to talk about, decide upon, and leverage their IT assets.  This book will change the way business executives think about IT and the way they lead the business.

About the Authors

Peter Weill is chairman of the Center for Information Systems Research (CISR) at MIT. He was recently named one of “The Top 100 Most Influential People in IT” by eWeek and a “50 Who Make a Difference” by Baseline Magazine. Jeanne Ross is director of MIT CISR and founding senior editor and former editor-in-chief of MISQ Executive.