Getting benefit from information systems

In business, information systems (IS) are expensive to introduce and maintain. Managers are therefore anxious to match IS to business policy, and then achieve the planned business benefits. This is even more important during a recession. The author suggests some principles. They can be developed in the light of individual experience, and to match particular enterprises and circumstances. They are essentially practical, being based on work in this area with groups of general managers. Benefit management is not something started when a new IS comes into use. It has its roots much earlier, during the conception and design of the IS. To take this broader view, the author discusses: the context within which benefit management must be conducted; identifying specific IS benefits, and their value to the business enterprise; achieving those benefits in practice; some real-world challenges in the interpretation of these principles