The merits of the mobile workforce

Value Reports are intended to help lead a necessary debate at a crucial time in the evolution of business technology.

The role of CIO, the importance of IT in bringing competitive advantage and the place of innovation is all in question at the moment.

This first supplement - looking at mobility - illustrates many of the key issues.

The case for wanting a mobile workforce seems clear, but business discussions still concentrate too heavily on the financial return on investment (ROI) promised by individual pieces of technology.

We've talked to dozens of CIOs, FDs, analysts and business leaders who, to various degrees, believe that ROI is too blunt an instrument for any major strategy and that we need to develop new and more effective mechanisms for judging IT spending.

There is a degree of consensus about the necessity of measurable, proveable value based on certain fundamental questions:

1. Does the technology align with wider business priorities?

2. Is there a clear case for buying on the grounds of business or operational efficency?

3. Do changes enable us to more closely integrate operation both internally and externally?

4. Can we do more with what we've got.

5. Is security adequate and can strategies built on security create the necessary levels of trust among potential customers?

6. Does improved staff morale and convenience make a proveable impact on retentions rates, out-of-hours productivity, general improvement in working time?

7. Have we costed in the necessary skills to successfully implement a strategy?

8. Do we keep all operations in-house or will outsourcing be part of the mix?

Turning the answers to those questions into metrics that will convince a business or public sector organisations is only half the battle.

There are still serious issues about communication, technology and culture.

In this edition, we will look at the views of the FD about the relationship between IT and finance.

Next month, we talk to leading CIOs about their views on business value - before moving on later to look at the approach of the wider industry and the leading analysts.

What is clear is that there has been, and largely still is a clear communications gap between the business or organisation and IT.

Filling the divide needs a reassessment of the relationship between business and IT.

And there is a further gulf between technology-influenced business strategies and the customer.

In the public sector, you see success stories in creating egovernment services but disturbingly low take-up.

In the private sector, even provably strong security will not convince users to adopt cheaper and more convenient ecommerce and ebanking.

Our Value Reports will be supplemented by debates, roundtable, online discussions.

We hope everyone interested in the future of IT will want to take part.

See also:

The Value Report

Computing is helping to lead the debate about the value of IT  24 Jun 2003

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