Mantos Consulting, Inc.: Benefits associated with IT

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The Art of
Business
Management

The Science of
Information
Technology

Maximize total benefit of ownership --- (TBO)

Decision makers who view Information Technology (IT) as a mystical "black box" cannot discern the difference in benefits between IT solutions. We call this isobenefit, when alternatives appear to offer the same benefit.

Managers are expected to maximize value by making good decisions even when they may not have a good understanding of the all the relevant issues. Few managers are comfortable with their understanding of IT.

All things being equal, the best choice in an isobenefit situation is the least expensive alternative. But, as we’ll see, strategic equations are rarely so simple as IT solutions seldom have long-term isobenefit.

Our specialists use Strategic IT to identify relevant differences in the long term benefits of IT alternatives and to estimate TBO in order to reliably calculate the return on investment (ROI) of each option. Some examples of these benefits follow:

Example IT benefit	Specific Considerations	Possible Strategies
Ability to meet other business needs not presently considered a requirement of the IT system	Are there existing systems that could be retired when this one is adopted? Would our customers, vendors, employers, or other stakeholders be able to use the system? Are options available to the system that have not yet been communicated as the possible usage is not obvious?	Business to business interfaces Business to consumer interfaces Hybrid or 3rd party add-ons to commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions
Compatibility with existing or planned infrastructure	What other systems are likely to be replaced or upgraded in the future? What database and operating system does the system use? Are there options or copanion mudules offered by the vendor?	Open Systems Vertically integrated proprietary systems External interfaces Industry standard data exchange formats (such as EDI or XML)
Options for future enhancement or integration	Availability of source code Ability to customize "User "Exits" prior to or immediately after specific modules are invoked? Are the data elements used by the system documented and accessible? How will enhancements be tested for impact to other parts of the system How will customization affect support?	Pre-paid retainer for enhancements or testing by vendor or 3rd party Use of "open source" systems Use of SQL compliant (or other standard) databases to ensure ability to import and export data from Licenses to view code or database schemas
Ability to accelerate progress toward strategic objectives	Which of the alternatives best fit our strategies? Is there an opportunity to leapfrog a strategic milestone with another technology? What opportunites for competitive advantage, if any, are offered by each alternative?	At the very least, *have* an Information Technology strategy against which alternatives may be evaluated.

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P.O. Box 90564 • Albuquerque, NM USA 87199-0564 • Phone: (505) 291-1047 • sales@mantos.com