The IT department is the engine that keeps a company running smoothly and manages the data that drives growth but it is still often seen as a cost centre. In fact, only one in three senior IT execs recently revealed to Forrester Research they are calculating the department’s ROI.

1. Prove IT:
10 ways to show the real value
of IT to your organisation

2. The main reason IT struggles to proves its worth is that
it does not associate the investment it receives closely
enough with the eventual business outcome. The value
of IT can be seen in two sections, the ‘hard’ benefits
such as efficiency gains, and the ‘softer’ benefits such as
streamlining the processes of the organisation. Therefore
to prove the true worth of IT, executives need to examine
both of these areas to understand in which areas IT has
added value to the organisation.
Here are some pointers to begin
proving the real value of IT.

3. In order to start proving the real value of IT
one of the first things the CIO or IT manager
must do is ditch the jargon. By communicating
the achievements of IT in hard business
terms, particularly in the support of new
projects, the department’s worth becomes
clearer to the whole business.
Ditch the jargon

4. The IT department can
demonstrate its value through
the introduction of technology
that enables remote employee
communication and collaboration.
Enable remote collaboration
and reduce travel costs

5. Virgin Media, for example, reduced it staff travel costs and expenses by 20%
through the introduction of technology that enabled staff to do just that.
Show the C-suite the real value of IT through the estimated cost savings such
technology could deliver as well as the benefits of empowering a mobile workforce.
20%

6. Drive business innovation

7. of digital leaders surveyed by the 2015 Harvard Business Report ‘Driving
Digital Transformation: New Skills for Leaders, New Role for the CIO’
stated that IT’s most important role in the next three years would
be in driving business innovation. Prove the real value of IT to your
organisation by demonstrating how the department has enabled this
innovation by breaking down internal silos.
48%

8. Mobility
Chances are, new
IT has empowered
frontline staff to
be more productive
on the move.
So measuring the
extra hours of
productivity per
employee will give
a good idea of
the ROI.

9. These are pure IT metrics but if
investment in new systems has led to
better availability of work applications,
it is definitely worth quantifying.
When you consider the average cost
of per-minute downtime is $7,900
this very quickly becomes a business
critical issue.
Downtime and
availability

10. It is increasingly critical that IT executives look at the benefits
of IT systems ensuring the organisation stays on the right side of regulators.
The EU’s proposed General Data Protection Regulation looks set
to raise privacy breach fines to either a
million euros or 2% of a company’s annual global turnover,
not being compliant is now business critical.
De-risking
through
compliance

11. Drive
customer
spend
Closer alignment with the
Sales team can enable
IT to move into a more
strategic business role
through the development
of improved CRM systems.

12. Working closely with Sales, the IT
department at Intel proved their
worth to the entire business by
building data models that empowered
the Sales team to better upsell and
cross sell products resulting in an
increase in revenue of
$264 million in the first year
of implementation.

13. Fewer penalties
Has digitisation meant
the business faces fewer,
or even no, penalties or
interest surcharges for
late payment of bills or
document handling?

14. Reduce costs related
to employee churn
through ironing out
IT issues

15. Flexible working policies and supporting systems are
critical factors for job satisfaction.
The HR savings are easily quantifiable. Oxford
Economics recently calculated that the total costs of
losing and replacing an employee is £30,000.
Bye!

16. Takeaways
Reduced staff travel costs through enabling
remote communication
Prove value through driving business innovation
Work with Sales to drive forward revenue

17. Discover how to increase ROI on
your IT projects by downloading:
The connected business:
ROI=(user adoption
+ strategic allies)
Download now
Strategic
Effective
Flexible
ROI=(user adoption
+ strategic allies)
The connected business:
Strategic
Effective
Flexible
ROI=(user adoption
+ strategic allies)
The connected business: