Optimize investments, transform capabilities and achieve greater business value from IT. Accenture research indicates that high-performance businesses view IT as a strategic asset—a source of both operational excellence and competitive advantage. Our Strategic IT Effectiveness (SITE) experts help top management adopt that mindset and achieve greater business value from IT. We have a clear perspective: IT is not merely a cost but a critical contributor to the business, focused on improving business value and performance. Our professionals are experienced with bold, value-creating approaches to IT, bringing boardroom-relevant criteria to IT investments and helping high-performance businesses to think bigger about IT's ability to improve operating results. In an economic downturn many companies freeze total IT spending or mandate cost reduction programs that eliminate the initiatives on which future growth depends. Recent Accenture research suggests that this indiscriminate approach to budget cutting usually results in higher spending down the line. IT capabilities and productivity deteriorate and IT maintenance costs rise as supporting aging applications and technologies becomes more costly. Conversely, in the race to achieve competitive advantage during boom times, IT spending sometimes grows unchecked, without the discipline that value-driven investment planning requires. This approach can prove just as costly to business performance as sweeping IT cost reduction programs. Today's debate over IT spending often misses the point. It's not how much you spend, it's the way you manage your IT spending that counts. Accenture research shows that high-performance businesses actually spend less than their lower performing peers on IT because they spend more selectively with an emphasis on creating value. The goal shifts from lowering and containing costs to improving the business's operating results. Why Accenture
Accenture's SITE experts help companies balance short- and medium-term investment agendas within parameters appropriate for the economic and competitive climate. By challenging discretionary/non-discretionary IT budget assumptions, we work with organizations to devise clear investment roadmaps that establish selective, value-creating spending that makes a greater contribution to the bottom line. The advantages of this approach are immediate: - Reduced wasteful or non-strategic spending releases funding for critical value- creating initiatives.
- Capabilities preserved in the short term.
- Capabilities enhanced within one to two years while the company's IT core is strengthened.
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