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This book describes the intrinsic factors of IT Operation and its set-up during the software implementation phase. Based on the author´s long-term experience in managing IT for more than 100 clients over nearly 25 years, the book examines the needed knowledge and execution management capabilities to implement and run IT environments successfully for all sizes of enterprises. Many real-world examples provide insight into typical IT challenges and recipes to turn common pitfalls of implementation and operation into best practices. In order to dominate information technology and not be dominated by it, readers will understand how to identify the most common risk factors during implementations and how to initiate successful risk-mitigation measures. The goal of this book is to arm the reader to completely prevent The 5 Pitfalls of Software Implementation by using the right programmatic design and execution.
After an introduction to the book, individual chapters examine the vision of a Perfect IT and how Design Thinking and innovation contributes to it. The core chapters conveys The Five Pitfalls of Software Implementation, including Underestimation of System Performance Issues, Weak Program Governance and Leadership, and Operational Un-Readiness. The challenges surrounding implementations of cloud applications, are presented separately. Final chapters describe the preparation of the IT Operation along with a number of dos and don´ts (i.e. ´Best Practices´ and ´Worst Practices´). The book concludes by presenting some Digital Strategies of companies, to dominate information technology.

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Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Digital Vision.- Chapter 3. The Five Pitfalls of Software Implementations.- Chapter 4. Implementation of Cloud Applications.- Chapter 5. Preparing the IT Operation for Production.- Chapter 6. Best Practices - and more.- Chapter 7. Digital Strategies.- Chapter 8. Conclusion and Outlook

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Andreas Graesser is the Founder and CEO of innovad LLC, a company he started in 2017 providing IT strategy services to architect a company´s digital business and IT strategies, to rescue IT implementation projects, and to optimize an IT organization´s processes and budgets. Prior to that, he worked with SAP Germany, eventually relocating in 2000 to the US to serve as SAP America´s Support VP. Between 2012 and 2017, he managed as the SVP of SAP America the profitable growth and delivery of all SAP MaxAttention services, including the development of the MaxAttention services portfolio and its delivery methodologies.

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