How To Measure IT Effectiveness
How do you measure IT effectiveness? I have discussed this with many colleagues and found a multitude of answers. I have read numerous books on the subject, each providing their own methodology and practice to measure IT. The common ground seems to be the culture of the organization and what background you have ( finance, supply, operations etc.).
For me I like to keep it simple. Close working relationships with all functional areas are critical. They are the ultimate judges – they will let you know if you’re meeting their expectations.
IT budgets are feeling the pressure – putting projects on hold, and addressing hard cost savings now. In an informal poll among my peers, I found there are still big ticket projects going on that are backed by management that see an opportunity to invest in technology that will provide a competitive advantage.
Additionally, any project or initiative that is not customer-centric was being either cut or put on hold. The biggest objective everyone seemed to agree on was finding cost savings within IT and among other areas of the business by using existing tools.
It is time to review your IT budget to determine where is the money being spent, which projects are critical, which have tactical short term benefits and which can be put on hold. It’s now more important than ever to show how IT can assist the business in adding value – whether that’s increasing profits or reducing costs.
The best quote I heard was ”When the clouds part we want to take advantage of the sun”.