4.1 Introduction

As described in previous chapters, over the years researchers have dedicated a great deal of time and effort to the problem of measuring ICT value and managing ICT benefits. However, this area of research has tended to focus on either ex-ante or ex-post evaluation of benefits, or the effectiveness of IT in the organization. While these are important concerns, we have not yet fully addressed the question of how much organizations have actually invested in ICT systems.

There are few organizations that can give a satisfactory answer to the question: How much have you invested in your organization s information and communications technology (ICT) systems? ^[2] In fact some organizations even have difficulty in producing a comprehensive list of their current ICT hardware. Keeping an accurate asset register requires a level of good organization and tight procedural discipline that many organizations find hard to maintain. ^[3] People are frequently surprised that the task of taking stock of the computer equipment used in an organization is so difficult. Computers are moved from one department to another. They can be mislaid; they can be lost; they can be stolen from organizations; they can be taken home by employees who forget to bring them back. Computers can be bought without proper corporate authorization and thus not correctly entered into the records of the organization or they can be...