Welcome to Making IT Matter. This is the website for a book project that is being developed by two authors, Randy L. Chalfant and Jon W. Toigo. The project covers the current rift that exists in many companies between the Front Office (senior business managers and boards of directors) and the Back Office (where IT lives). We will be considering the origins of the rift and what can be done about it -- how we can make IT matter to business leaders. 

The project combines the perspectives of two men: Chalfant, a long time technology industry insider who currently serves as Chief Technology Officer within the marketing division of Sun Microsystems, and Toigo, a well known tech industry watchdog, consultant and consumer advocate, who is CEO of Toigo Partners International. Each has spent decades working in the trenches of business management and information technology and each has carried away similar, yet different, perspectives on the role of technology in contemporary organizations and how it can be harnessed to yield business success.

We don't always agree. However, sometimes the debate helps illuminate the causes of the current, and too often disfunctional, relationship between business and technology leaders and what can be done to address them.

We welcome you to visit this site and to view the work in progress. We will even provide a comment facility, so that registered users can offer their commentary and insights as the project proceeds.

Technically speaking, this site may be classified as a "blook" -- a book developed on line in a manner very similar to a blog. For the authors, this is simply a convenient approach to getting a manuscript written in a collaborative way.

Your participation is welcome. Feel free to comment on the chapters as they are completed in draft.

Thanks for stopping by.