IT and business executives are burdened with the ever-increasing cost of IT without clear evidence of the value derived from it. Traditional performance methods, like ROI, only capture the financial worth of IT projects and systems. But problems emerge when traditional monetary values are used to measure IT value, as information systems often generate intangible benefits. Will the IT black hole ever end?
Help may be at hand with the recent release of the IT Governance Institute’s Measuring and Demonstrating the Value of IT, the third volume in the IT Governance Domain Practices and Competencies series.
The book gives an in-depth look at how to determine the actual worth of IT. It focuses on performance measurement and notes that while the IT department may initiate raising awareness of the need for IT performance management, senior business executives must show strong support if the business is to achieve maximum value from IT.
“Demonstrating the value of IT is not the CIO’s job, it is a business issue for CEOs and other senior executives,” said Wim Van Grembergen, coauthor of the publication and professor and chair of the Information Systems Management Department at the University of Antwerp, Belgium.
The book recommends a two-pronged approach for measuring and demonstrating the value of IT using IT portfolio management and balanced scorecard (BSC) concepts.
The volume is available at the ISACA Bookstore (www.isaca.org/bookstore).
