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Tying IT Projects to Business Results Is Crucial

IT investments Tying IT Projects to Business Results Is Crucial With LOB execs having more influence on how IT budgets are allocated, solution providers must focus more on how IT projects provide better business outcomes. Top IT Investment Considerations IT security leads the list at 70%, followed by improving customer/client experiences and controlling costs, which […]

Written By

Michael Vizard

May 23, 2016

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IT investments

Tying IT Projects to Business Results Is Crucial

With LOB execs having more influence on how IT budgets are allocated, solution providers must focus more on how IT projects provide better business outcomes.

Top IT Investment Considerations

IT security leads the list at 70%, followed by improving customer/client experiences and controlling costs, which tied at 50% each.

Top Factors Influencing IT Investments

A larger number of IT security breaches (65%) leads by a wide margin over stricter compliance mandates (43%) and increased end-user expectations (41%).

Business vs. IT Goals

More than two-thirds (68%) said business goals trump IT goals in terms of determining IT investment strategy.

Tying IT Investments to Business Outcomes

A full 70% said the ability to link IT investments to key business outcomes is critical/very important. But less than half (47%) believe their organizations are doing an excellent or very good job of communicating and demonstrating the impact of IT investments on key business outcomes. Only 8% said no improvement is needed in this area.

Business Outcome Challenges for IT

Standardizing and streamlining business processes (34%) followed by too many manual processes (33% and difficulty keeping up with application development demand (33%) top the list.

Changes Needed to Improve Business Outcomes

More than half cited streamlining of business processes (56%), followed by increased standardization (38%) and moving away from legacy systems (37%) as the three most desired business initiatives.

Changes in IT Priorities

Compared to two years ago, 75 percent said IT security is now more important. At the same time, 51% cited managing costs.

IT Operational Efficiency

Well over half (56%) of respondents are thinking of streamlining their operational processes to more effectively drive business outcomes through IT investments.

Three Most Challenging IT Projects to Manage

Security (44%), followed by IT governance (29%) and deploying IT using a services model (24%) are perceived to be the most challenging. But among IT organizations that have implemented a specific IT project, process automation (49%), followed by application performance management (37%) top the list.

Most Challenging Phases of an IT Project

Planning gets the votes (41%) for most challenging parts of an IT project, followed by build (36%) and testing (32%).

Michael Vizard

Michael Vizard is a seasoned IT journalist, with nearly 30 years of experience writing and editing about enterprise IT issues. He is a writer for publications including Programmableweb, IT Business Edge, CIOinsight, Channel Insider and UBM Tech. He formerly was editorial director for Ziff-Davis Enterprise, where he launched the company’s custom content division, and has also served as editor in chief for CRN and InfoWorld. He also has held editorial positions at PC Week, Computerworld and Digital Review.

Tying IT Projects to Business Results Is Crucial

Michael Vizard

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