A decade ago, manufacturing companies had visions of paperless offices, automated plants, and virtual enterprises. But the euphoria quickly evaporated when these visions failed to materialize. Now, from in-depth interviews in a worldwide survey of seventy manufacturing firms, a research team from the prestigious consulting group McKinsey & Company concludes that, far from being a failure, information technology (IT) can be a vital strategic weapon in the manufacturing sector, just as it ha...

JUMP START PRODUCTIVITY, PROFITABLILITY, AND BUSINESS GROWTH WITH SOCIAL MEDIA!Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have changed everything. Some managers fear their employees will waste entire days using online social media. Smart managers, though, understand that social media is a powerful tool for engaging customers and growing their business.Manager’s Guide to Social Media is a primer on the biggest thing in business since the Internet itself, helping you successfu...

This invaluable guide addresses the Why, What, and How of enterprise cloud adoption, leveraging a clear framework and proven best practices from Microsoft's own experience.“Great book. What’s particularly impressive is the outline of steps Microsoft itself is taking in its move to the cloud. Do as I do is always more powerful than do as I say.”—Al Ries, Coauthor, War in the Boardroom“This book takes on enterprise cloud adoption to a level I’ve not seen before—mad...

Swarm Creativity introduces a powerful new concept-Collaborative Innovation Networks, or COINs. Its aim is to make the concept of COINs as ubiquitous among business managers as any methodology to enhance quality and competitive advantage. The difference though is that COINs are nothing like other methodologies. A COIN is a cyberteam of self-motivated people with a collective vision, enabled by technology to collaborate in achieving a common goal--n innovation-by sharing ideas, inf...

This is the first book that presents a comprehensive overview of sustainability aspects in software engineering. Its format follows the structure of the SWEBOK and covers the key areas involved in the incorporation of green aspects in software engineering, encompassing topics from requirement elicitation to quality assurance and maintenance, while also considering professional practices and economic aspects.The book consists of thirteen chapters, which are structured in five parts....

Aligning an organization’s goals and strategies requires specifying their rationales and connections so that the links are explicit and allow for analytic reasoning about what is successful and where improvement is necessary.This book provides guidance on how to achieve this alignment, how to monitor the success of goals and strategies and use measurement to recognize potential failures, and how to close alignment gaps. It uses the GQM+Strategies approach, which provides concepts a...

There has never been a SOA manual like this. 100 Success Secrets is not about the ins and outs of SOA. Instead, it answers the top 100 questions that we are asked and those we come across in forums, our consultancy and education programs. It tells you exactly how to deal with those questions, with tips that have never before been offered in print. This book is also not about SOA's best practice and standards details. Instead, it introduces everything you want to know to be successful with ...

Important insights into the true purpose of IT?from a CIO's perspectiveFocusing on the qualities required to transform an organization through the lens of the CIO, this book provides practical advice on how to address key issues, as well as create a context for the type of leadership qualities required to broaden the CIO's impact in every aspect of the corporation.Provides practical advice on key issues for leadership qualitiesLooks at the d...

The legitimacy or illegitimacy of information exchanges between competitors remains a topical debate with regard to EU competition law and policy. This book reexamines the issue in the retail financial services sector, focusing on the peculiar problems that it poses for EU market integration, consumer policy and protection and the intersection with fundamental rights. It analyzes and reflects on the relevant case law and guidelines offered by the corresponding European authorities, providi...

One of the main aims of management accounting is to provide managers with accurate information in order to provide a good basis for decision-making. There is evidence that the information provided by management accounting systems (MAS) is distorted and the occurrence of biases in accounting information is widely accepted among users of MAS. At the same time, the intensity and the frequency of use of MAS increase, too. Consequently, the quality of the provided information is critical. The f...

The second edition of Security Operations Management continues as the seminal reference on corporate security management operations. Revised and updated, topics covered in depth include: access control, selling the security budget upgrades to senior management, the evolution of security standards since 9/11, designing buildings to be safer from terrorism, improving relations between the public and private sectors, enhancing security measures during acute emergencies, and, finally, the incr...

This book, divided into two parts, provides an introduction to the quality management issues and gives a general overview to the use of ISO 9001 in the library environment. The second part presents the main features of ISO 9001:2008 with practical comments and examples on how to implement its clauses in libraries. Whether in the public or in the private sector, libraries can be seen as service organisations: they act in very dynamic environments where users are increasingly demanding new t...