Evaluation and realisation of IS/IT benefits: An empirical study of current practice

This paper presents the main findings of a 1994 survey of UK industry practices in the evaluation and realisation of IS/IT benefits ('benefits management'). The survey addresses the issues which affect the ability of organizations to realise the full benefits of IS/IT investments, i.e. not only the pre-investment appraisal and post-investment evaluation processes, but also how organizations do or do not ensure that benefits claimed are actively managed through to realisation. To do this a new benefits management process model was used to structure a questionnaire to elicit details of how effective organizations are in addressing benefits management throughout the investment lifecycle. Sixty organizations responded to the survey, thus providing a wealth of data for analysis. This paper presents some of the key results of that analysis. From the survey, it is clear that many organizations believe that current methods are far from satisfactory in ensuring that the benefits are properly identified and realised. Very few have a comprehensive process for managing the delivery of benefits from IS/IT. This paper offers new insight into the reasons for the current unsatisfactory situation and points the way to how the situation could be significantly improved.