The Digital Organization: Alliedsignal's Success with Business Technology

A detailed road map for integrating technology into your organization's core structure

In this one-of-a-kind book, James Best--former Vice President of AlliedSignal's Computing and Network Operations--shows you how to turn your company into a successful digital organization. With clear explanations of technical trends and their applicability to specific business scenarios, Best provides an easy-to-follow, seven-step program that will help get your organization on the right track--incorporating it into the company's operations.

Best's Laws of Computing

Technology breakthroughs require a surrounding infrastructure
* Enterprise solutions must be managed on an enterprise basis
* Things break!
* Change causes downtime
* Industry standards inhibit innovation
* Market share wins, not technical eloquence
* Competitive advantage is hard to sustain
* The scope of every computer project grows
* New computer technologies unveil additional layers of applications that suddenly become feasible and cost-effective
* Size is the great determinant of implementation difficulty
* Serendipity does not apply to computer systems
* If data resides in two places, it will be inconsistent


Companies who strive to become digital organizations are faced with the challenge of turning the promise of technology into actual payoffs within their organizations. In this unique book, author James Best helps you bring your corporation up to speed by showing you how to develop--and implement--a business strategy that will transform your company into a successful digital organization.

Formerly responsible for AlliedSignal's Computing and Network Operations, James Best knows what it takes to turn a company into a first-rate digital organization. Originally responsible for melding the three companies--Bendix, Garrett, Allied Chemical--that made up Allied's foundation into one, Best was charged with creating a stronger communications and networking system between the triad of business sectors. Adapting available technology to the needs and objectives of his company, Best helped develop a solid strategy that--in effect--combined Allied's parts and made them into a unified whole. This strategy has made AlliedSignal one of the most successful digital organizations around.

Best delivers the blueprint you need to make IT initiatives a vital--and effective--part of your company's infrastructure. Offering clear explanations and straightforward advice, he takes you through the details of designing a game plan that integrates your people, processes, and computer systems. With real-world examples from a variety of high-tech companies, Best shows you how to incorporate the computer culture into your organization, and effectively manage and align your computer operations with the rest of your organization.

To get you on the right track--and to help you stay there--Best provides an easy-to-follow, seven-step program that offers invaluable details on building and managing an IT department, identifying technologies that will support your company's overall purpose, and funding IT initiatives effectively. And with Best's expert recommendations, you'll learn how to manage technology initiatives and diverse cultures, as well as the application development process.

Clear, comprehensive, and essential, The Digital Organization is the guide that will help your corporation pursue an effective technology strategy.

JAMES D. BEST is a former Vice President of AlliedSignal's Computing and Network Operations. He is currently President of the Scottsdale Center for Business Technology, an executive education and consulting firm for enterprise technology initiatives. His articles have appeared in InformationWeek, Journal of IT Management, CIM Review, and Computers in Manufacturing.