World Class IT: Why Businesses Succeed When IT Triumphs is a 2009 IT management book by Peter A. High that aims to provide a framework by which CIOs and other executives can promote IT within a business. High outlines five principles that align IT with business strategy and allow companies to monitor and improve IT's performance. The book highlights a 2000s trend that views IT as a digital nervous system that delivers corporate thinking to business units, partners and customers. Since the 2009 publication, the book has also been published in Mandarin and Korean editions. Five principles of World Class IT People form the foundation of an organization. Without the right people doing the right jobs at the right time, it is difficult to achieve excellent performance. Infrastructure distinguishes between a reactive organization and a proactive one. If software, hardware, networks, and so on are not performing consistently, the IT organization will become lodged in reactive mode. If the infrastructure works reliably, then a greater percentage of the organization can think about the future. Through Project and portfolio management new capabilities can emerge within the company. It is important to ensure that the portfolio collectively supports the goals of the business and that projects are delivered on time and on budget. IT and business partnerships are vital. It is the IT executive's role to ensure that different groups within IT function as a team, communicating efficiently and effectively. It is equally important that IT develop partnering relationships with executive management, lines of business and key business functions to ensure ownership of and success for IT initiatives. External partnerships are important as outsourcing becomes more common. By contributing to the discussion about business strategy, IT is in a strong position to determine which aspects of IT are best handled by external partners. Further, IT must be adept at managing those relationships to be sure the company gains the expected value from its outsourcing activity. Relationship between IT and the business Using a set of metrics and models, World Class IT crystallizes a strong trend that has emerged across industries in the past decade: the integration of IT and corporate business strategy. CIO Digest recognizes this pattern as key to the long-term organizational growth and development of a company. In a 2009 IT study, Deloitte finds that IT departments are consistently under pressure to deliver business value in the face of increasingly