Enterprise IT still ‘failing’ but delivering real benefits

A full 80% of senior directors in Europe say that they have been over-sold the benefits of IT, but 77% in the manufacturing sector say it has nevertheless increased productivity. Additionally, 51% see their systems creating opportunities for new business and increased revenues, while 57% say IT has reduced operating costs – although in the UK that falls to just 39%, with 47% claiming it has not. These are among headline findings of a Mori survey of senior directors (IT finance and procurement) in more than 1,000 companies with turnover £75 million-plus and over 500 employees across the UK, Germany, Italy and Sweden – of which one third are manufacturers – just published. Looking at expectations specifically, almost half of directors rate return on IT investment so highly that “it meets expectations at least 75% of the time,” although figures in the UK are less encouraging at 32% finding expectations being met 75% of the time. This sets the tone for what are in some cases quite striking geographical differences. Less than a quarter of manufacturing users in Germany, for example, believe IT implementations fail because they don’t increase competitive advantage, whereas 42% in the UK say they do. That aside, what’s interesting is the causes of failure. Most blame lack of clarity with the business objectives, followed by unrealistic expectations. Beyond this, the survey finds still significant numbers blaming poor project planning, poor cost controls and inadequate training. Also still cited is poor project creep control, lack of business understanding on the part of implementers and inadequate research before buying. Moving on to Xerox’s forte, documents and document management systems, no one believes the paperless office will ever happen – indeed paper volumes are going up. Probably most importantly, document costs are largely unknown even though they are growing as businesses continue to rely on them for the whole spread of business interactions. Then in Xerox’s other big business area, outsourcing, the survey finds just over half of directors seeing a growing trend, with similar figures believing outsourcing does drive down costs. Specifically, the survey appears to show only 32% of UK manufacturers currently outsourcing business processes, compared to 77% of German users, but Chris Bunce, head of Xerox Business Services UK, warns that much of that finding is a quirk of the definition of outsourcing. The full report, ‘Documents, People and Technology: A European perspective’ is available from Xerox Global Services.