One of the favourite refrains from many of my clients in IT is that benefits for technologies are difficult to derive or are intangible, are difficult to track and measure, and the net effort required exceeds the worth to the organization.

My view is different:

• all benefits can be derived and made tangible

• tracking, measuring and reporting benefits is a matter of survival for IT

• if the effort required exceeds the worth, reduce the effort using the 80:20 rule.

These opinions are simplistic, because I don t want to get into a debate with the consultants and academics who have made it their mission to derive accurate, provable benefits no matter what. Their contribution to organizations is valuable and valid, and if your organization can afford their services, then please use them. However, I have chosen to take a deliberate business stance, which optimistically and even naively assumes that we want a good idea of what value IT is adding for what cost, with the minimum effort from both sides. The process requires a number of steps (Figure 7.9).

Figure 7.9: Steps in deriving, tracking and reporting benefits

Already this looks complicated, but it isn t. Rather, see it as a mindset for you and IT to have about benefits.