Rating: 
Summary: Great Book!
Review: After this book I feel that much more prepared to tackle my clients ROI expectations. Out with the spreadsheets and in with these new ways.
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Summary: I now sell more software
Review: As VP of Sales as a growing Enterprise Software company, I've been able to increase my price point, decrease my sales cycle and close more business. The impact was immediate. I highly recommend Jack's book to everyone involved in sales.
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Summary: A must have on every IT manager desk
Review: Have you ever been in situations where you are asked to implement some project and all that back it up are some fuzzy logics?
Discussion is going nowhere because no one is able to get beyond gut feel to show real benefits?Well, I had. And until I encounter this book, it was a struggling process. This book's step by step method make it all clear how to justify a project, what are the right question to ask, how to get people all aligned. Suddenly a framework appears, a road map indeed that guides all the discussions and leads to conclusion. The best I like about it is how to get from intangible to tangible. From just premise to prove. How you can justify user request that goes "We want this system because it improve our efficient". "Yeah right, so does dozen others that want to get implemented" Get this book.
Rating: 
Summary: useful if you don't have much of a clue
Review: I got this book amongst other related ones, for a management learning project I participate in. My background in formal evaluation of IT projects is essentially zero.
I expected this book to provide me with some oversight on the topic, and practical tools amd methods to carry out the assignment.
The book delivers on both aspects, so I feel I have to explain why I give it only a "fair" 3 stars rating.
The book conveys a host of conventional wisdom nicely and orderly packaged, a lot of "practical" stuff (that I don't expect to be able to use in practice though), and a "solution to any situation in 11 steps" attitude, all of which imho make it essentially a sort of consultant-held 2-day course in written form.
Also, it's useful in that you don't get confused with several approaches, but just the ROI approach may not be enough. You'll likely need more than this to get the job done.
In conclusion, it's a good book, but not something you can't do without, nor particularly enlightening, nor your definitive source on this topic.
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Summary: The ROI on this book is huge!
Review: I had my doubts when I started reading this book. I did not believe that intangibles could be adequately taken into account in business decisions. This book changed my mind. The book was useful in indentifying how to develop the list of intangibles, how to place a value on them, and most important of all, how to put it into the language top management responds to best. This has always been one of the missing links. The other missing link that this book brought home to me was that including team members in collecting and calculating data is as important as the calculations themselves. Assembling credible data creates support for the project among team members and within other departments. This book provides a step-by-step approach.
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Summary: Raises the bar in business case development
Review: I have a pile of books that address the same subject and would not have picked this one up if a colleague had not persistently badgered me into reading it. Instead of yet another tome on business cases, ROI and value, I discovered what to me is the absolute best book on the following three areas: (1) business case development - the authors shine here by showing how to craft a realistic business case that does look at the important factors and benefits. More importantly, you're shown how NOT to write a business case, and common problems with too many business cases that are presented (and all-too-often accepted). This aspect of the book alone raises the bar in business case development. (2) properly computing ROI that is real - in many organizations ROI is a forbidden word and NPV used instead. One reason for this is it's rarely computed correctly. Before reading this book I used ROI as a quick and dirty gage, but always looked to NPV as the deciding factor when exploring the feasibility to a project or solution. The way the authors expose fallacies of improper ROI computation, and how to avoid them is invaluable, and will restore credibility to ROI as a realistic indicator. (3) assuring value - the VALUE-on-Demand approach the authors propose is a straightforward method for evaluating, selecting and prioritizing projects. This methodology has no flaws that I can find, and will add structure, clarity and process to governance. Regardless of your experience, there is much to learn from this book. It can serve as a company 'how-to' guide and standard as is with little-to-no tailoring, and represents the best book I own on business case development and determining ROI. It's also one of the best books on establishing a viable governance program I've read.
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Summary: A MUST in this environment for any technology vendor!
Review: I have heard of Jack Keen and his ROI work at notable companies like PeopleSoft and Oracle where his methodologies apparently have paid off well at those companies and at others. He has long had a web site but its exciting to see his methodologies carefully described in this book and where it is easy to understand and implement. Our sales teams have quickly come up to speed on his methodologies and his ROI tool and are now able to present more compelling business cases to prospects. Engaging prospects in lively discussions about their needs and concerns is a big part of the book and it certainly has paid off well for us as we have clearly decreased our sales cycles by better putting ourselves in our prospects' shoes and more clearly understanding their needs. The result is more effective selling!
Rating:
Summary: Chock Full of Great Information!
Review: I just finished reading this incredible book and will be referring to it often in the days and months to come. This is the first book I've seen that gives me the details on how to prioritize IT investments across an organization as well as how to communicate the justification for a specific project convincingly and with the maximum chance of success. Highly recommended!
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Summary: Make sure your IT investments are profitable.
Review: If you really want to make sure your IT investments are making money to your organization, this is the book that will help you to get the right and supported answer.
Jack M Keen describes in a very detailed way how to track the benefits and real business value from the IT Investments. Is a well written and fast, easy to read book that worth's every dollar you spend on it.
Don't have any doubts; this may be the more useful book you may get about the subject. I have read others (Like IT Payoff, and others) and are OK, but this is the more practical and useful of all.
Rating:
Summary: Insightful, practical, and easy to read.
Review: Keen & Digrius have written a bible that covers a lot of ground. This excellent book is a litany of other peoples' mistakes - about a billion bucks worth of mistakes! There are checklists of do's & don'ts, many of them not obvious. It's perfectly clear from the book that flaws in project reasoning can be fixed if detected, and well-reasoned technology investments will give you a big advantage in the marketplace. I saw Digrius speak at a Gartner symposium when she was VP at Gartner Group, and the same insight & humor she brought to the symposium sparkles throughout the book. I'd be eagerly awaiting the sequel, but I think they have already covered all the bases.
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