In 1990 the world spent just over $100 billion on technology. Investment was still focused primarily on mainframe automation, distributed processing and mini-computers with the primary goal of reducing basic transaction costs.

In 2004 technology investment topped $1 trillion, being spent on a vast array of potential improvement areas such as knowledge management, enterprise application integration (EAI), self-service, CRM (customer relationship management) and business intelligence. But the business expectation from this ten-fold increase in expenditure has also fundamentally shifted. For their vast investments, organizations expect tangible and material improvements in shareholder value, customer service and enterprise information: new technology is an enabler, not an end in itself.

Delivering success from strategic technology is challenging. Companies still fail on three out of four occasions – in part driven by a growing expectation of the benefits which can be achieved from such initiatives.

But by selecting leaders for such programs who can bring program management, solution understanding, stakeholder management and benefits delivery skills, organizations can put in place all the necessary ingredients for success.

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This article is part of Axon's IS Strategy Process.  To view other articles in this process please visit the IS Strategy page.