IT Value

I read an article this week about the end of IT value as a metric for the IT organization.  When I first noticed the article title I was shocked since value is an important measure for the contributions of IT to the organization and the measure indicates alignment with the business strategies of the organization.  However, as the article noted, value is dependent upon what is measured.  In this case, what is measured has become the source of this issue.

Apparently, many organizations are still measuring value in terms of a metric specific to the technology or service itself.  For instance, the help desk may measure value in terms of resolution time or hold time.  However, this is not really value for the organization.  True value should look at satisfaction measure for the end users or the decline in reported incidences.  These true value measures should indicate some type of cost reduction or revenue increase to the organization rather than simply reflecting on an attribute of the service itself.  Value must measure impact to the organization.

Over the past two decades IT has recognized the need to become partners with the functional units of the organization.  We learned we cannot work independent of the organization and we must view IT as a business enabler rather than the creator of elegant technology looking for application.  If we are truly connected to the functional side of the organization, we must measure IT contributions in terms of the impacts to the overall performance of the organization.  Impact to the overall organizational performance represents true IT value.