CIO Wisdom II: More Best Practices

Chapter 11. Software Return on Investment (ROI)^[1]

^[1] Much of this chapter is derived from a moderated panel discussion held in September 2003 involving members of the CIO Institute.

Phillip A. Laplante

With the grand scale and high cost of enterprise software systems and in the wake of the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation mandating corporate fiscal responsibility, the value of IT expenses are being more carefully scrutinized by CFOs, CEOs, and particularly governing boards. In response, CIOs are looking for ways to justify these costs as investments, or at least accurately portray them to CFOs and CEOs. But the IT industry does not have a good reputation for tracking and controlling its costs, nor is it always easy to attribute a benefit or return ...