IT Portfolio Management Step-by-Step: Unlocking the Business Value of Technology

Information technology (IT) provides inordinate value if applied properly. Identifying and implementing new value and revenue opportunities, while maximizing return based on existing investments is contingent on understanding the entire portfolio of information technology investments. Just as a financial investment portfolio requires constant monitoring and action, the investments a company has, or is making, in IT must constantly be evaluated. This need is evermore heightened in today's demanding regulatory environment. While silver bullet solutions do not exist for difficult problems, IT portfolio management provides a realistic approach to ensuring that investments in technology continue to support the needs of business.

Based on the authors' combined professional hands-on IT and financial experience of over thirty years, the unparalleled input and support from an army of individuals from the leading IT market research firm in the area of IT portfolio management, extensive research and case studies from many exemplar companies, IT Portfolio Management Step-By-Step provides the closest thing to a Holy Grail solution—the first complete book ever published that presents a proven, pragmatic, and non-technical approach to simplifying the process of achieving a rationalized and business-aligned IT portfolio.

IT Portfolio Management Step-By-Step encapsulates the essential ingredients novices and experts need to build or fortify an existing IT portfolio, including extensive coverage of:

• The comprehensive five-level IT portfolio maturity model and portfolio metrics
• Policies, principles, organizational roles, and other governance aspects of IT portfolio management, including linkages to Sarbanes-Oxley and CobiT
• The IT life cycle and each IT sub-portfolio in their content and context
• The eight detailed stages and specific tasks of building, step by step, the IT portfolio, replete with realities and lessons learned
• Coverage of advanced IT portfolio management topics such as Monte Carlo Simulation, the Efficient Frontier curve, Real Options, Analytical Hierarchy Process, Earned Value Analysis, Balanced Scorecard, and Scenario Planning
• Criteria for selecting an IT portfolio management tool vendor
• Insight regarding the impact of future trends and technologies on IT portfolio management

About the Authors

Bryan Maizlish is Chief Technology Officer–Program Team at Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems & Solutions' GeoSpatial-Intelligence Solutions line of business. He is also the Chairman for the annual Strategic & Operational Portfolio Management conference cosponsored by the PDMA and IIR. He has served in management roles for companies that developed the Internet strategy, design and architecture, and systems integration and implementation for many global 2000 companies. He received his MBA from The Wharton School of Business, and was a member of the 1983 Rose Bowl Champion UCLA football team.

Robert Handler is Vice President at META Group, Inc., one of the leading IT research firms. Robert led the IT portfolio management research for META Group and is a sought-after speaker and author of numerous research papers on the topic. He has over fifteen years of experience in all aspects of information technology, and has worked at such esteemed organizations as IBM and Ernst & Young LLP. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Pepperdine University and an MBA in Information and Decision Systems from San Diego State University.