Information Technology Evaluation Methods and Management

The evaluation of information technology and its business value are the subjects of many academic and business discussions. Investments in IT are growing extensively and business managers worry whether the benefits derived might not be as high as expected. This phenomenon is often called the IT investment paradox or the IT Black Hole: large sums of money are invested in IT that seem to be swallowed by a large black hole without rendering much return. How to measure the benefits of IT is the concern of Technology Evaluation Methods and Management. Different IT evaluation approaches and methods are discussed and illustrated with cases: traditional financial evaluations such as the return on investment, information economics and the recently introduced IT Balanced Scorecard. The latter approach is proposed as an ideal mechanism to support the IT/business alignment process and its related IT governance process.

About the Author:

Wim Van Grembergen is professor at the Business Faculty of UFSIA (University of Antwerp) and is a guest professor at the University of Leuven (KUL). He teaches information systems at undergraduate and executive level, and researches in business transformations through information technology, audit of information systems, and IT evaluation. Dr. Van Grembergen presented at the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS) in 1997 and 1998 and at the Information Resources Management Association (IRMA) Conferences in 1998, 1999 and 2000. He is Track Chair "IT Evaluation Methods and Management" for the 2000 and 2001 IRMA–conference. He published articles in journals such as Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Journal of Corporate Transformation, Journal of Information on Technology Cases and Applications, IS Audit & Control Journal and EDP Auditing (Auerbach). He also has several publications in leading Belgian and Dutch journals and published in 1997 a book on business process reengineering in Belgian organizations and in 1998 a book on the IT Balanced Scorecard. Currently, he is editing a book on IT evaluation. He is engaged in the development of CobiT 3rd Edition. Until recently he was Academic Director of the MBA Program of UFSIA and presently he is co–ordinator of a master program on IT–audit. Professor Van Grembergen has consulted with a number of organizations and is member of the Board of Directors of an IT company servicing a Belgian financial group.