Citation
(2005), "What Business Really Wants From IT", International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 54 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijppm.2005.07954bae.002
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2005, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
What Business Really Wants From IT
What Business Really Wants From IT
Terry WhiteButterworth-HeinemannISBN: 0750660961£24.99
Measurement must have an aim – there must be a reason for any measure to exist. A measure is pointless if it does not cause something to happen.
This book points out that, though there are many technical measures available in the depths of the technologies that run our systems, the business managers and owners are really only interested in the tip of the IT measurement iceberg. They expect measurements to help them understand how the technologies the business uses are performing, and to make better business decisions.
Simple questions relating to IT infrastructure (which can be addressed by simple measures) include:
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Is the infrastructure available to the business where and when it is needed?
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Is the infrastructure stable enough to run core business processes?
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Are the right people getting access to the infrastructure when they need it, or are the wrong people being denied access?
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Are the company’s IT infrastructure resources efficient (not wasting time and expenses), and effective (producing the intended results)?
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How much does IT infrastructure cost, and is this cost within acceptable benchmarked limits?
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Is the business acquiring and upgrading infrastructure technologies to keep pace with the company’s growth?
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Is the business using its infrastructure capacity effectively?
The measures for IT application systems are different in that they directly support business processes, and as such are more visible and obvious to business sponsors and users.
Questions that the business should be asking of its IT applications include:
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Are the application systems meeting their mandates? In other words, if a system is implemented to allow the business to take orders in less than five seconds, is this actually the case? Also, each system will need to have its own stability, access, efficiency, effectiveness, and cost measures.
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Are applications integrated with each other and with business processes? Can elements of one application be used elsewhere?
IT should never discuss costs without discussing benefits. One of the essential governance elements of application service provision must be a service forum in which both the measures of the application by IT people and the business experience of the application are shared and compared, differences are highlighted and acted on. Most importantly, here expectations of both business and IT are managed.