The Automated Company

Information Technology (IT) is infused into our daily lives in an irreversible way. At one time, a company with solid IT systems may have had an advantage over the competition. Today, there is no way to keep pace with the world, handle the torrent of data needed, or even interface with your customers without IT systems. A solid IT infrastructure is the ante to enter the game.
But IT is more than racks of blinking LED's or colorful Web pages that bring information at your command. At its heart, your IT infrastructure software and hardware working together automates your business processes. The harmonious interweaving of systems and infrastructure with people and processes is at the core of The Automated Company. Achieving that harmony is what this book is about.

All companies have some limitations of their time and resources. Success is achieved by targeting the use of your resources to bring about the greatest advantage to your company. Automating your company is no different. But, unfortunately, we have found that Business folks and Software Engineers quite often have trouble communicating. This lack of understanding makes it difficult for the groups to work together effectively. Rather than accelerate your success, IT infrastructure seems to slow your progress and business processes overflow with "exceptions" or "off-line steps".

The intent of this book is to illustrate a step-by-step planning process that beings together Business needs with Software Engineering deliverables. The planning process is presented as if you are planning for particular department (in most examples, the Sales and Marketing department for Ektrom Coffee Machines a fictitious company created for our story and examples). However, the process could easily be applied to a specific functional area or expanded to plan for an entire company.

To make it easier to digest, this book is divided into two sections:

The Story:
The story immerses you in the troubles of the Sales and Marketing department of the Ektrom Coffee Machines Company. Although the company and all of the characters are fictitious, they illustrate many real life problems and distractions standing in the way of success. In the story the characters apply our tools and planning process. This provides an easily readable illustration of the planning process at work. Also, the reactions of the characters are many of the same reactions we have observed in real-life.

The Methodology:
The Methodology section of the book provides an overview of the entire planning process. The methodology is presented in easily executable steps, each with a clear input, participants, and output. Throughout we offer illustrations and tools that you can use. The sections are clearly divided so that you can jump to any particular point or use any particular step (or tool) that you need. Many of these tools can be used individually to resolve business problems you may face.

Finally, I should point out that we are NOT academics and this book is NOT the summary of a study or experiment. Rather we are craftsmen, with five decades of Business and IT experience between us and this is our way of providing you with the tools and processes we have created based in our hands-on experience. It is our hope that you also find these tools useful. And from that use you find yourself more successful or at the very least, avoid some pitfalls that were "learning experiences" for us.

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