Chapter Five: The Value of IT

"The Adventures of an IT Leader" invites readers to "walk in the shoes" of Jim Barton, the new CIO of the fictional IVK Corporation, as he spends a difficult year learning effective information technology leadership, sidestepping the pitfalls that make the CIO job the most volatile, high-turnover job in the business. This chapter finds Jim contemplating how to measure and demonstrate the value IT creates for individual business units, and ultimately, the organization as a whole. Given IT's unique position within the company as a service provider, rather than a profit center, this is no easy task. This chapter is excerpted from "The Adventures of an IT Leader."