IT benefits still under-exploited
Cranfield management school research says little progress made in last 10 years
Companies are making the same mistakes they were 10 years ago in failing to capitalise on the business benefits of IT projects, according to a survey of UK and Benelux business and IT managers by Cranfield School of Management.
The research, conducted in association with Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School in Belgium, suggests that 73 per cent of respondents say significant improvements are needed if their company is to deliver satisfactory value from IT investment, the same figure as 10 years ago.
‘Having carried out two similar surveys 10 years apart, it is rather disturbing to find that so little has changed,’ said Professor John Ward, who led the research.
‘For all the talk about getting value for money from IT, it appears few organisations are actively doing anything to increase the value they obtain.’
Some 57 per cent of respondents say they are not satisfied that they obtain value from IT investments, while 31 per cent say they do not know if they obtain value for money from IT spending.
Ward says that although the technology that businesses introduce is more complex than it was 10 years ago, IT departments are still not getting it right.
‘Things have to be driven by the business need rather than the IT capability, otherwise you spend on IT and fail to deliver the benefits of it. Often, people over-invest in technology in the hope that it will improve things,’ he said.
Ward says it is important for businesses to plan for the organisational changes required to deliver IT-enabled benefits.
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