Hard money, soft outcomes: Evaluating and managing the IT investment

by Barbara Farbey

This work is about evaluating the risks and rewards of organizational investments in information technology. The focus of the book is on a tension that this evaluation brings: the tension between the hard, quantitative discourse of formal evaluations, and the much softer issues which have their roots in organizations as human creations. The hard quantitative results of an evaluation are only one input into the decision-making process. Getting the total picture right is important, and this book considers different methodologies with varying capabilities for providing numbers, assuring process and adapting to context, as well as considering the softer issues, which may in fact be more important. In addition, the process of evaluation has many purposes; as objectives vary, then so must the way evaluation techniques are developed and applied. The book should be of interest to corporate strategists, finance and human resource management, IT professionals and consultants, and academics and researchers in the fields of IT and accounting.

211 pages, Spiral-bound

First published February 24, 1998