Research shows that 75% of organisations believe IT investment decisions need improving

IT investment decision processes should be improved, according to an overwhelming majority of IT executives who recently participated in an international survey commissioned by Compuware.

The survey was conducted by independent research company, Illuma Research, and 75% of the 400 respondents comprising CIOs and IT directors from France, Holland, Germany and the UK, stated that they believe correct IT investment decisions were vital for businesses.

Instead of pats on the back for a job well done, the IT department attracts constant scrutiny about the money it is spending or whether it is adequately supporting the business. Initiatives such as corporate governance and the responsibilities that these projects entail have raised the stakes.

IT managers are now expected to support the business needs and be able to communicate how they are doing so in business terms. This is no small task. Making the correct IT investment decisions is crucial to ensuring that performance can be optimised in the face of budget cuts, regulations, risks and industry standards.

There is no room for error and it is imperative that investment decisions are based on the strategic needs of the business. Yet 69% of respondents are still reliant on manual processes to manage their IT portfolio, rather than an automated IT application. The result is that theseorganisations are limited in their ability to align IT investments to the needs of the business.

According to Jorge Borralho, Regional Sales Manager, at Compuware, budgets may have fallen over the past few years, but IT still consumes a large part of an organisation's annual spend.

"It is imperative that investment decisions are based on the strategic needs of the business," he says.

"With both IT projects and day-to-day maintenance and development, it is often a case of whoever shouts loudest, or is most influential within the organisation, being given priority. The result of such a culture is that too often the IT initiatives that have the best strategic fit with the business are not given the focus or investment they demand or require.

"This means that the department is not able to improve its service to customers and the business. You wouldn't expect the finance department to manage without some sort of accountancy application, even if it is a basic database, yet ironically the IT department has no applications to support its operations."

The research also found only 24% of organisations have an automated IT application that allows them to match and track resources against allocated budget.

"A lack of insight into projects and a heavy reliance on manual methods can lead to IT directors feeling like they are chasing their own tails. Without the ability to match and track the resources being allocated to each initiative accurately, IT directors can start to feel like they are losing their financial grip as projects start to spiral both off track and over budget," he concludes.