MIT Sloan Management Review

New research finds that investments companies make in information technology increase profitability and sales more than investments in advertising or R&D do.

Information technology remains a terrible bottleneck to growth in most companies, mainly because executives focus on the wrong remedy for their IT problems

It takes a tremendous amount of detailed management on both the client and supplier sides to realize the expected benefits of offshore outsourcing of IT work. Here are 15 best practices that can accelerate learning and make the strategy eminently worthwhile.

Although IT portfolio management has been a best practice for some time now, many companies are still getting returns from IT investments that are below their potential. New studies show that a measurable premium can be gained by implementing a set of interlocking business practices and processes, collectively called “IT savvy.”

The purchasing function can go beyond mere cost cutting by rote. It can add value by driving innovation and superior long-term cost performance.

After pouring millions of dollars into in-house data centers, companies may soon find that it’s time to start shutting them down. IT is shifting from being an asset companies own to a service they purchase.

Throughout an organization, individuals make decisions daily that influence the need for and the value received from information technology. A simple one-page framework can help companies allocate IT decision rights and accountabilities so that individual IT decisions align with strategic objectives.

Most companies today are using precious little of the computing power available to them through the machines and software they already own. PCs, servers and mainframes all sit idle much of time, while the people who operate them are away from the office or the plant.

For managers seeking to abandon follow-the-pack IT investment, the author offers the example of Inditex Group, a clothing manufacturer in northwestern Spain, best known for its Zara stores. Inditex demonstrates that a company can select, adopt and leverage IT while spending very little on it. He lays out five general principles that underlie Inditex”s remarkable success with targeted technology spending.