Peter High is a renowned author of highly influential books on information technology and digital transformation. These books are valuable resources for digital and technology leaders in both digital native and digital immigrant companies as they plan and navigate their future. These books are also a principle method by which Metis Strategy codifies the learnings from ongoing consulting work, distilling the insights into proprietary methodologies and practical strategies that can be implemented by a wide variety of leaders and organizations.
With increased pressure from digital natives, now is the time for established companies to address outdated and antiquated practices in order to respond quickly to the ever-increasing speed of market changes.
The pace of change in business today is such that it is becoming easier to go from a legendarily high-performing company to liquidation in a short period of time. Getting to Nimble shares the stories of organizations that were able to successfully transform their people practices, processes, technology, ecosystems and strategy for the digital era. The book also covers once dominant companies like Circuit City and Kodak that neglected to change and were impaired or died as a result.
There are five core themes at the heart of Getting to Nimble: People, Process, Technology, Ecosystem, and Strategy. Becoming a nimble organization requires transforming each of these elements. The book shares lessons from companies that have done so to maximum effect, including Capital One, FedEx, CarMax, The Washington Post, Domino’s Pizza, Walmart and the country of Estonia. It also includes a step-by-step modernization processes and metrics to gauge your progress, allowing you to proceed with confidence toward sustainable excellent performance.
There are five core themes at the heart of Getting to Nimble: People, Process, Technology, Ecosystem, and Strategy. Becoming a nimble organization requires transforming each of these elements, and Getting to Nimble shares lessons from companies that have done so to maximum effect. The book includes a step-by-step processes to modernize as well as metrics to gauge your progress, allowing you to proceed with confidence toward sustainable excellent performance.
With rare insight, expert technology strategist Peter High emphasizes the acute need for IT strategy to be developed not in a vacuum, but in concert with the broader organizational strategy. This approach focuses the development of technology tools and strategies in a way that is comprehensive in nature and designed with the concept of value in mind. The role of CIO is no longer “just” to manage IT strategy―instead, the successful executive will be firmly in tune with corporate strategy and a driver of a technology strategy that is woven into overall business objectives at the enterprise and business unit levels.
High makes use of case examples from leading companies to illustrate the various ways that IT infrastructure strategy can be developed, not just to fall in line with business strategy, but to actually drive that strategy in a meaningful way. His ideas are designed to provide real, actionable steps for CIOs that both increase the executive’s value to the organization and unite business and IT in a manner that produces highly-successful outcomes.
While function, innovation, and design remain key elements to the development and management of IT infrastructure and operations, CIOs must now think beyond their primary purview and recognize the value their strategies and initiatives will create for the organization. With Implementing World Class IT Strategy, the roadmap to strategic IT excellence awaits.
“What’s unique about this book is that it’s not only a must-read for the CIO (and everyone else in an IT department); it’s for anyone associated with the technology industry. If you are a manufacturer, seller, or service provider of technology, you will gain insight into what makes an IT department world class.” – CIO Digest
Master the Five Essential Principles to Elevate Your IT Department from Good to World Class.
Technology is all around us. It is so pervasive in our daily lives that we may not even recognize when we interact with it. Despite this fact, many companies have yet to leverage information technology as a strategic weapon.
What then is an information technology executive to do in order to raise the prominence of his or her department? In World Class IT, recognized expert in IT strategy Peter High reveals the essential principles IT executives must follow and the order in which they should follow them whether they are at the helm of a high-performing department or one in need of great improvement.
The principles and associated sub-principles and metrics introduced in World Class IT have been used by IT and business executives alike at many Global 1000 companies to monitor and improve IT’s performance. Those principles pertain as much to the leaders of IT as they do to those striving to emulate them.
"Since I first collaborated with Peter High nearly a decade ago, he has been a source of wisdom for me. In his book, Peter offers a synthesis of some of his most important thoughts for companies around the world, grappling with how to create organizations that do well for the long term. By following his methodology and the examples he provides, your organization will be successful at meeting the disruptive changes that come your way."
"The pace of innovation and change is already unprecedented and will only get faster in the future. Companies that are not nimble enough to pivot quickly, both in times of crisis and opportunity, will get left behind. In his new book, Peter High has set a playbook for CEOs, CIOs, CDOs and other executives to follow to stay nimble enough to find sustainable success."
"One of the biggest challenges an organization faces as it grows is how to remain nimble. There are many forces at work in large corporations that layer in bureaucracy and attempt to mute its entrepreneurial spirit. In today's world, a company's technology is particularly vulnerable to falling behind and hindering marketplace agility. In Getting to Nimble, Peter High shows how technology is essential to any company's ability to adapt at the speed required by today's constantly changing market forces."
"Peter High has the context to write a much-needed guidebook to the innovation journey, focused on the vast majority of great companies who are 'digital immigrants', not digital natives. His survey of the most relevant areas of disruption (and therefore, innovation) in our time is peppered with insightful stories from recent technology history and practical frameworks. It's a must-read for business and technology executives in the age of unprecedented pace of change."
"It is essential that leaders, be they of universities, not-for-profits or corporations, take control of the change that digital innovation is exerting upon us. We must be nimble enough to run toward opportunity and away from potential issues. In Peter High's fascinating book, he provides the roadmap to follow to do just that."
"The new book World Class IT (Jossey-Bass, 2009), by consultant Peter A. High, provides solid, timeless advice for CIOs trying to manage IT for business success."
"What’s unique about this book is that it’s not only a must-read for the CIO (and everyone else in an IT department); it’s for anyone associated with the technology industry. If you are a manufacturer, seller, or service provider of technology, you will gain insight into what makes an IT department world class."
"This view from the trenches and the actions of executives who have made IT a driver of innovation, infuse Implementing World Class IT Strategy with rich details and illuminating case studies. It is a must-read for anyone interested in making IT a leader rather than a follower."
