As IT leaders we are accustomed to operating in an environment that is often brutally driven by the numbers. Managing a large cost center and IT investments represent a significant fiduciary duty to our organizations, one where cost/benefit, ROI and other financial terms are daily topics of conversation. This is made all the more real by a challenging economic environment and the need to make the most of the limited capital available to us.
We’d like to believe that the decisions we make and the investments we propose for our organizations are fact-based wherever possible:
- New technology programs are usually proposed based on specific, calculated benefits to the organization and its staff. An analysis of current processes and their costs are compared to estimates of the future-state environment. A high-stakes proposal may be presented to a capital committee or other executive body that weighs investments against each other, and the organization’s strategic plan. While games may be played with the numbers, and while individual persuasiveness and political alliances may play too large a role in some cases, at the end of the day we trust that the facts will win out, and a good decision will be made on the merits.