Summary

After years of apparent dormancy, once again companies are paying more att- tion to information management. IT departments and CIOs are confronted with a number of new challenges, which force them to reconsider past information m- agement strategies and solutions. Recently cited as positive trends in IT are only those developments concerning stronger customer service and process orientation or pertaining to new forms of IT governance. Questions about the efficiency and effectiveness of company IT utilization are once again taking center stage. More and more IT departments are under pressure to perform with regard to quality, functionality, and transparency, especially when performance does not mirror customers' requirements. The intensity with which discussions are taking place about costs, outsourcing, or offshoring between IT and other business units epi- mizes this pressure. This text addresses the challenges to information management. Using the model for integrated information management, this book presents a framework for the management of IT services and a tangible organization of information mana- ment. In defining the model we were guided by two principles.