Improving the value assessment of IT investments: A case study

A recent survey showed that 90% of the studied companies claimed that they have full control of their IT-costs but less than 10% have the same control of the value the IT adds. Even though the figures can be questioned they show of a large uncertainty within the companies regarding IT value. The lack of processes and methods to support follow up of the investments lead to that companies fail to perceive if the benefits are realized or not. In order to take smarter investment decisions, companies must have better control of their investments through a proper evaluation of benefits. This work presents a framework that describes a method and suggested tools of how the business values of an IT investment can be assessed within a company. The framework combines existing methods for practitioners within the area of investment evaluation together with research findings. In a case study, a gap analysis were performed between five different IT projects of different sizes and the framework. The case study show in which areas the projects fail in their value assessment work.