驱动IT战略投资的关键因素（By Barbara Gomolski）

Key factors that will drive strategic investments in IT

By Barbara Gomolski

Jan 3, 2002

Economic uncertainty has resulted in increased scrutiny of IT investments. Still, IT spending as a percentage of revenue continues to rise. Even though enterprises have decreased capital spending (which represents the purchase of hardware, software, and services with a useful life of more than one year), they are spending more on IT services. Capital expenditures have dropped rapidly as demand for new capacity has evaporated. The dot-com phenomenon drove high spending rates so enterprises could keep up with each other. Many are now left with more capacity than they need. Recovery will occur only as this extra capacity is gradually used.

Beyond planning for capital purchases, there are no clear-cut formulas for determining where to invest in IT, and not all IT investments lend themselves to traditional return-on-investment (ROI) analysis. However, IT investments should be driven by an overall business strategy. An enterprise whose strategy is to "continue to milk its cash cows" is likely to invest more in current applications and infrastructure, while an enterprise that is entering new and changing markets will spend heavily on high-risk, "bet-the-farm" applications. Similarly, some enterprises will target particular lines of business as growth engines, which will dictate a set of supporting IT-related initiatives.

Beyond understanding the business strategy and its implications on IT investments, the following factors should also be considered when making strategic IT investments.

Technology adoption profile
Gartner classifies enterprises into three types:

• Type A enterprises are leading-edge adopters of technology. They use technology as a competitive weapon and usually question whether they are spending enough money on IT. They spend almost twice as much on IT than their Type C counterparts. IT investments are driven by the desire to meet the IT demands of internal users and external clients. Their application portfolios include several high-risk endeavors. They invest in technology because they believe it will yield a sustainable competitive advantage and long-lasting customer loyalty.
• Type B enterprises are mainstream adopters. They are more likely to wait for new technology to be broadly adopted before jumping in. Their IT spending is in line with competitive companies. Technology investment decisions are driven by what the industry at large is doing.
• Type C enterprises are conservative adopters. They are often purely efficiency-focused. In such enterprises, there is often an attitude that IT "costs too much," and new IT investments are rigorously challenged.

Gartner recommendation: Type B enterprises that wish to become Type A enterprises should expect IT spending as a percentage of revenue to increase 35 percent. Type C enterprises that wish to become Type B enterprises should expect IT spending as a percentage of revenue to increase 30 percent. Type A enterprises should anticipate that half of their applications will fall into the "frontier or enhancements" category. Type C enterprises should strive to decrease gross baseline IT costs by at least 3 percent annually.

Organizational maturity: Mature or transforming
Along with the technology adoption profile, an enterprise's IT investment choices will be heavily influenced by its level of organizational maturity. As enterprises transform, their level of IT spending and their IT investment decision criteria change. For instance, a chemical manufacturing firm that has relatively mature processes may spend only 3 percent of its revenue on IT today. However, as that company transforms into a chemical and life sciences (services) business, it will double its spending on IT and begin to invest in applications that go beyond improving efficiency.

Gartner recommendation: Enterprises that are in a period of organizational transformation should expect to devote at least 10 percent of their IS budget to applications that go beyond improving efficiency and have the potential to give the enterprise a sustainable competitive advantage. Every enterprise should have an aggressive campaign to reduce baseline costs. Mature enterprises and those in the midst of organizational transformation, in particular, should shift as much investment as they can from baseline to strategic initiatives. Enterprises whose business strategy calls for entering new markets, acquiring new customers, or operating in a changing competitive landscape will find themselves in a transformational state when it comes to IT spending.

E-business or business as usual
The extent to which an enterprise is exploiting e-business will continue to be a major driver of IT investments. Often, enterprises take their cue on e-business by examining how the industry in which they operate has been altered by e-business. E-business investments (e.g., installing a customer relationship management system) often do not lend themselves to traditional ROI analysis. Rather, they may yield benefits, such as improving customer retention, improving brand reach or fostering alliances. Even the most aggressive adopters of technology must work to develop metrics that will help business leaders understand—in tangible terms—what the payback of such investments might be.

Recommendation: Enterprises that are striving to transform their processes based on e-business should expect to devote at least 50 percent of their discretionary IS spending to this effort and should develop meaningful metrics to measure ROI.

Bottom line
Strategic investment in IT will be significantly shaped by IT adoption profile, organizational maturity, and the level of penetration of e-business. Because these factors are infinitely different among enterprises, there is no hard-and-fast rule for benchmarking strategic IT investments.