Justifying IT investments

To justify IT investments, solid procedures to evaluate, prioritize, monitor and control IT investments have first to be put in place. During a three-year study at a research centre, the Kobler Unit at Imperial College, guidelines for good practice were identified that address both the primary objectives of systems, and the inevitable human and organizational second-order effects of working with IT. Based on these guidelines, a framework for justifying IT investment has been developed that concentrates on critical success factors, on risk assessment, on business performance indicators, and on strategic alignment while offering at the same time a mechanism to monitor and evaluate the investment over time.