Author Description

Increasingly, companies are choosing to purchase enterprise technology rather than create it in house -- but relatively few IT professionals have the skills and experience to oversee such a large investment. Now, there's a step-by-step, start-to-finish guide to every step of the technology acquisition process: planning, identifying the right technology, choosing the right vendor, negotiations, deployment, and beyond. Expert IT project manager Allen Eskelin presents techniques and skills that can improve ROI on virtually any information technology purchase, from CRM software to network infrastructure. Learn how to identify business needs and establish technology purchasing projects that respond to them; create effective project plans and teams; define proposed solutions; and identify vendors who may have appropriate solutions. Review multiple approaches to researching, evaluating, and selecting vendors; then walk step-by-step through contract negotiation: strategy, tactics, planning, and documentation. Finally, learn how to implement effective processes for developing, testing, deploying, and supporting vendor solutions. Eskelin covers both process and the "people dynamics" that make or break technology acquisition projects.