The book sheds light on the persistent communication gap, termed "The Great Divide," between IT departments and business leaders, highlighting its detrimental impact on innovation, transformation, and financials. The author emphasizes the importance of a 'Digital Vision' for business leaders across all sectors, noting the necessity of embracing newer technologies like Artificial Intelligence and the role of methodologies like Design Thinking in driving innovation.
From a study conducted in 2018, the author identifies the 'Five Pitfalls of Software Implementations', revealing key challenges like system performance issues, weak program governance, operational unreadiness, missing software features mismanagement, and late testing and defect resolution. For each pitfall, measurable KPIs are provided to mitigate risks proactively.
The shift to cloud computing is recognized as a strategic move for businesses, offering numerous advantages, but not without its own set of challenges, particularly regarding multi-cloud integration. The importance of preparing IT operations for production, ensuring smooth transitions, and long-term IT operational success is also underscored.
Incorporating personal experiences, the book shares a blend of 'Best Practices' and 'worst practices', offering insights into successful program management, project transitions, and more. It provides a detailed checklist for "Digital IT Transformation" and emphasizes the necessity of keeping end-users at the heart of all digital strategies, illustrating with examples from various industries.
The author contends that if the advice within the book is heeded, business and IT leaders can preemptively address and overcome the 'Five Pitfalls', resulting in significant cost savings, successful digital transformations, and greater business success, regardless of whether the software implementation is on-premise or in the cloud.
In essence, the book serves as a comprehensive guide for IT and business leaders embarking on digital transformation journeys and software implementation projects.