Procedimientos

TE AM FL Y

The

Executive’s Guide to Information

Technology

Executive’s Guide to Information

The

Technology
John Baschab Jon Piot
Foreword by Lynda M. Applegate Henry R. Byers Professor of Business Administration Harvard Business School

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

About the Cover: We have chosen the legend of Sisyphus as the theme for our cover. In Greek mythology,Sisyphus was condemned by the gods to push a massive boulder uphill. Upon reaching the summit, the boulder would slip and roll back to the bottom, and Sisyphus would be forced to repeat the effort endlessly. This tremendous, but futile and neverending effort is, unfortunately, an apt metaphor for the hard reality facing many IT managers. We hope that the approaches and techniques in this book help theIT director break free of the Sisyphean cycle. This original cover art was created by Dale O’Dell, an artist with over 20 years of experience in digital artwork design. Dale O’Dell Photography & Digital Illustration is online at www.dalephoto.com. Copyright © 2003 by John Baschab and Jon Piot. All rights reserved. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. Published simultaneouslyin Canada. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or other wise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of theappropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 750-4470, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, e-mail: permcoordinator@wiley.com. Limitof Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by salesrepresentatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. The publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services, and you should consult a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental,consequential, or other damages. Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. In all instances where John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is aware of a claim, the product names appear in initial capital or all capital letters. Readers, however, should contact the appropriate companies for more complete information regarding trademarks and registration. For generalinformation on our other products and services please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. For more information about Wiley products, visit ourweb site at www.wiley.com. ISBN 0-471-265609-4 Printed in the United States of America. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Foreword
Information technology (IT) has always been a wildcard in business, a source of opportunity and uncertainty, of advantage and risk. Business executives often view the IT function with apprehension, as the province of technocrats primarily interested in new features that may...