It Management in the Digital Age : A Roadmap for the It Department of the Future

This book examines the massive changes currently taking place in the business world and commonly known under the label “digitalization.” In addition, it describes the significant impacts of technological innovations on processes, products, services and business models.

The digital transformation resulting from these developments leads to disruption for many enterprises and industries. While for many years, IT departments mainly concentrated on fulfilling the requirements of business departments effectively and efficiently by means of high-quality IT services and operations, today’s IT departments are increasingly expected to actively co-design and co-create the enterprise.

This book describes how information technology enables innovation for businesses, and how IT departments can proactively and in a timely manner collaborate with the business departments of their corporation to leverage these innovations. It also delineates the implications of digitalization for the structures, processes and people in today’s IT departments. IT leaders and managers who are responsible for corporate IT, as well as practice-oriented researchers, will find valuable inspirations and guidance in this book, the central mission of which is to encourage and enable a more proactive role for IT in the digital transformation processes.

Nils Urbach is Professor of Information Systems and Strategic IT Management at University of Bayreuth, Germany. He is also Deputy Director of FIM Research Center and the Project Group Business and Information Systems Engineering of Fraunhofer FIT. His research and teaching is focused on strategic IT management and digital transformation.

Frederik Ahlemann holds the Chair for Information Systems and Strategic IT Management at University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. He is also executive director of the Institute for Computer Science and Information Systems at this university. His research interests include digital transformation, digital business strategies, enterprise architecture management as well as project and project portfolio management.