The first incarnation of according2jb.com was launched more than 20 years ago on the heels of Y2K and the dotcom bubble. Client-server computing had matured beyond minicomputers and Windows was making large inroads into the enterprise. The database was conquering the file cabinet. Companies were starting to get the sense that a digital revolution was emerging. Technology would no longer be an adjunct to the work of the business, it would become the business.

In this cauldron of excitement, John Berry was trying to document the management of IT. It is interesting to know how client-server and then web-based applications worked. But it was also of interest to CIOs, CFOs and business managers to understand what techniques would evolve to actually manage these assets and the people responsible for maintaining them. JB dove right in. He became a columnist for InternetWeek, Computerworld and a contributor to CIO, CFO and InformationWeek, writing mostly about the value of enterprise technology in whatever form.

He discovered quickly that exotic, enterprise level software and hardware was a black box to senior management (managers understood the business process impacts but how these impacts occurred – that was another thing.). Another revelation appeared. The financial literacy so needed amongst line managers and IT to advocate for new projects and manage risks was completely absent. Or even worse. They possessed the financial knowledge in the principles of hurdle rates, weighted average cost of capital and Internal Rate of Return but didn’t bother to apply it to technology investment, where, arguably, it was sorely needed.

Millions were spent automating manual processes or innovating new ways to conduct but few could construct a credible, coherent narrative that addressed costs, benefits and value in the language of finance. For this reason, IT investment planning was poor and many companies suffered the consequences.

Out of this lack of planning and decision discipline came horrific stories of cost overruns, glitchy software and worker resistance to new IT they were not properly educated in how to use. Had enterprises thought more deeply about the implications to a new IT invest – the both before and after implementation issues – the results would have certainly been different, all the way to a decision NOT to invest, or at least postpone.

The latest version of according2jb.com offers planning, fact gathering and decision support tools of much greater breadth. In fact some of the methodologies overlap in terms of the decisions they drive. The methodologies are designed to reach the same destination but they come at the issue from different angles. Context is key. Not unlike a prism. Adjust it slightly and a new color emerges, which is equally useful in IT investment deliberations. According2jb.com seeks to offer clients a range of perspectives that fully inform managers so they can walk away confident about the choices they made. That is one of our highest aspirations.

 JB is principle of according2jb.com an IT strategy consulting firm and advisory. He works with a global network of talented professionals when demanded to serve the needs of clients as they aspire to improve the discipline applied to managing their IT estate. He has a technologist-level grasp of enterprise IT including, formal executive education coursework in blockchain from the trade association The Blockchain Council and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He holds a bachelors in Economics from the University of Connecticut.