The Entrepreneur's Guide to Managing Information Technology

"Just reading Chapter One, CJ Rhoads has helped me to make my plan for the future a more calculated and informed one." -- Conrad Karlson, Karlson Photography "This book is the IT Bible for non-technology managers or corporate America. CJ Rhoads has distilled her decades of experience as a manager and consultant into an eminently practical IT management guide." -- Fred Beste, CEO, MidAtlantic Venture Fund "The ideas are timely and in tune with the challenges most business professional face when trying to understand the IT complexities affecting today's bottom line decisions. My sense is that the scope is about right to effectively address how to better deal with the thesis, i.e. that business owners and Entrepreneurs are often at a disadvantage when making technology decisions because the playing field is bent toward the IT vendors and consultant. This book can help business and IT professionals better navigate through the hype and confusion that is too often intermingled with IT communications, and as a result make better tactical and strategic IT decisions." -- Bill Bauerle, CIO Lockheed Martin "The Marriage Of The Hedgehog And Panther Will Produce Powerful And Significant Offspring." -- Skip Torresson, CEO, The Stewardship Group "Inviting and nonthreatening for the novice IT purchaser. Easy to grasp analogies utilizing everyday language." -- Molly Tremblay, Behavioral Medicine Center, Reading Hospital "Very informative and entertaining. It kept my interest and I am not a technology person. I liked the way the information was presented, and the examples that were used kept me reading. This book is right on. The author offers practical advice and information that can be very valuable to Entrepreneurs!" -- John McNamara, CEO, McNamara & Associates, Inc. "The combination of thorough research and personal experience make this a very credible read. The casual writing style makes the statistics and references quite easy to digest." -- Laura Donovan, Director of Publications, Klee Associates, Inc.

In addition to helping you level the playing field with technology salespeople hawking everything from handheld devices to complex networks, Rhoads answers the following questions:

How do I get the promised benefits of information technology?

Software. Hardware. Networks. Wireless. Entrepreneurs face a bewildering array of choices and decisions when it comes to incorporating technology into the fabric of their businesses. Yet nothing could be more important these days. Aligning information technology (IT) with business strategy is essential to meet and beat the competition. As business strategy and technology expert CJ Rhoads shows, managing information technology effectively is an essential skill that all entrepreneurs must develop, just as they develop skills in sales or finance. However, due to the immaturity of the IT industry, making good decisions about information technology is very difficult. Reliable and unbiased information is hard to find, and technical people are often unable to convey information in a way that makes sense to entrepreneurs. The Entrepreneur's Guide to Managing Information Technology to the rescue!

Reading this book could mean the difference between having reliable, effective systems that help your business flourish—or stumbling into hidden sink holes that drain employee motivation and hack away at profits. In addition to helping you level the playing field with technology salespeople hawking everything from handheld devices to complex networks, Rhoads answers the following questions:

How do I get the promised benefits of information technology?

How do I avoid the risks?

How do I plan for the information technology that I will need as the business grows?

How do I choose wisely from the plethora of platforms, products, and services that are available?

How do I avoid wasting money on technology that won't work for me?

How do I implement and coordinate technology so that it runs smoothly?

How do I manage the people, processes, and systems for the best value?

Understanding the answers to these questions and putting them to work could mean the difference between success and failure in any entrepreneurial venture. Readers will learn to recognize hype when they see it, and they will focus on how to profit the most from IT. At the very least, readers will avoid thousands of dollars in lost costs by avoiding risky technology projects. The knowledge contained in this...