IT's Real Value

Forbes.com (Jul 6 2009)

1. When was the last time your company asked hard questions about the value of its technology? Figuring out the real value of technology in an enterprise used to be a persistent problem. Animated discussions about this topic dominated budget planning for decades at some of the largest and most sophisticated corporations because they were spending millions of dollars on mainframes, software and services with no clear justification other than their competitors were doing the same thing. Productivity did improve in some areas, of course. Mainframes proved adept at managing billing systems, data processing and even manufacturing. But these systems were so unreliable that companies like IBM ( IBM - news - people ), Hewlett-Packard ( HPQ - news - people ) and Digital Equipment actually had on-site employees to maintain their equipment. The equipment has become more reliable, much less expensive to purchase up front, and now when something goes wrong, most companies just replace a new blade ... (Read Full Article)

   Bookmark or Share this article

Login to comment.

Related Articles