Optimizing the IT Investment Agenda

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 almost always 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.

Accenture's Strategic IT Effectiveness 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 road maps 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.