Success factors for ICT projects

Abstract

"Information Technology (IT) budgets have grown faster than any other indicator of corporate performance. Executive management expects that their information management experts will deliver results that will surpass other available means for generating economic su,p/uses" (Strassman, 1997). The importance of IT is constantly increasing. Nevertheless, research studies suggest that at least 20% of expenditure on TT is wasted and between 30 and 40% of 1T projects realize no net benefit, however measured (Willcocks, 1995; Willcocks & Lester, 1994; Hochstrasser & Griffiths, 1991). An important factor, pointed at by most authors as a cause of failure of IT projects, is the lack of a theoretically founded and empirically tested evaluation and justification methodology. Hochstrasser & Griffiths ()991) for example, found that only 16% of the corporations rely on rigorous methods to calculate the benefits of investments in IT. Consequently, costs are often significantly underestimated (G. Fitzgerald, 1998). Literature provides an extensive list of other possible factors that may cause failure or success, like there are: Jack of involvement of the executives, lack of experience with similar IT, management style, alignment with the business strategy and so on. Unfortunately, these statements are often based on a limited number of cases or even on testimonials of some vendors. Most research in this field focuses on IT at corporate level, that is, the ideal level of IT spending is being researched. Ways of allocating IT budgets are described. Management rules and attitudes are being examined (Strassman, 1997; Kaplan & Norton, 1992; Willcocks, 1996). Projects, as such, are seldom the unit of research. Another branch of research studies the justification process for IT projects. Justification techniques for IT are examined and compared with traditional justification techniques (Willcocks, 1995; Dos Santos, 1991; Groneman & Meroney, 1991; Clemons & Weber, 1990). Suggestions are made to improve the justification process. Despite an increased interest in IT spending, it is surprising that so little empirical research has actually been conducted on IT projects itself, especially from the perspective of project management. Very few studies have focused on the success factors of IT projects. Those who did, mainly focused on the impact of one or two specific factors, like the impact of management style or the severity of the posed targets (Earl 1990, the Hawley committee report, 1995). Therefore, a more holistic approach is needed that studies the combined impact of the different variables on IT projects. This study tries to fill this deficiency in the current research literature by using IT projects as the unit of research. More precisely, ICT projects will be examined.