Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home IT Management
    • IT Management

    Harvard Study: IT Matters

    By
    Darryl K. Taft
    -
    June 22, 2006
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      NEW YORK—IT matters. According to an upcoming Harvard Business School study, higher IT capability directly correlates with superior revenue growth.

      At the SIA (Securities Industry Association) Technology Management Conference here, Marco Iansiti, the David Sarnoff Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, and Julio Gomez, managing director of financial services research at Keystone Strategy in San Francisco, shared some of the findings of their joint study in a workshop titled “IT Matters.”

      The Harvard Business School study, which will be published later in 2006, is a multi-country study that measured IT capability at more than 150 large enterprises and found that IT is a key factor in enterprise success, Iansiti said.

      Iansiti said IT is strategic for several reasons. For one, IT amplifies the impact of people and drive productivity, he said.

      In addition, IT gives enterprises insight to set strategy; provides enterprises with better control to execute strategy to better manage operations, finance, sales and product development; and drives profitable growth, he said.

      The bottom line, both Iansiti and Gomez said, is that the study showed, based on surveys of IT executives, that there is a clear correlation between effective IT operations and growth for an enterprise.

      Iansiti said some of his Harvard Business School students, along with Keystone, helped with the study. And Microsoft also pitched in with help on the project, he said.

      “We worked with Microsoft on some of this,” Iansiti told eWEEK.

      “They helped us with some of the scenarios,” which the team used to gain insight into how much IT played into overall productivity, he said.

      Indeed, Microsoft “actually helped us to come up with the idea for the study and to work out the theme,” Iansiti said.

      /zimages/2/28571.gifRead more here about IT consolidation.

      In particular, Iansiti said his team worked with many individuals involved with the Microsoft “People Ready” campaign, which Microsoft announced in March.

      “A business that is People-Ready gives its people software tools that enable them to collaborate and work together globally, to contact and serve customers instantly, and to streamline and reinvent processes intuitively,” said a Microsoft document describing the campaign.

      Iansiti said Harvard Business School was interested in working with Microsofts “People Ready” staff “because they are looking closely at where business and technology are going” and how IT can make a difference and impact growth.

      Meanwhile, Gomez said IT lets enterprises get their business processes put in “in a leverageable, scalable way. Its the ability to scale up the business at a minimally incremental cost.”

      Moreover, as it applies to brokerage companies, Gomez said the study showed that brokerage executives said their representatives most valued IT in the form of communication and collaboration technologies.

      In addition, the study showed that financial services firms have the opportunity to employ IT to differentiate their enterprises in such areas as financial management, accounting systems, forecasting systems, reporting, integration and optimization, transaction management, compliance, sales and other areas.

      And Gomez said IT managers surveyed for the study found governance, innovation and execution all about equally important priorities.

      Plus, nearly all IT managers surveyed said they plan to increase outsourcing, particularly in the areas of application development and IT infrastructure, Gomez said.

      Meanwhile, the study is ongoing, he said. But, as it stands, “this work goes a long way in providing a link between IT and growth,” Gomez said.

      /zimages/2/28571.gifCheck out eWEEK.coms for the latest news, reviews and analysis on IT management from CIOInsight.com.

      Darryl K. Taft
      Darryl K. Taft covers the development tools and developer-related issues beat from his office in Baltimore. He has more than 10 years of experience in the business and is always looking for the next scoop. Taft is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and was named 'one of the most active middleware reporters in the world' by The Middleware Co. He also has his own card in the 'Who's Who in Enterprise Java' deck.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Big Data and Analytics

      Alteryx’s Suresh Vittal on the Democratization of...

      James Maguire - May 31, 2022 0
      I spoke with Suresh Vittal, Chief Product Officer at Alteryx, about the industry mega-shift toward making data analytics tools accessible to a company’s complete...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Applications

      Cisco’s Thimaya Subaiya on Customer Experience in...

      James Maguire - May 10, 2022 0
      I spoke with Thimaya Subaiya, SVP and GM of Global Customer Experience at Cisco, about the factors that create good customer experience – and...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      GoodData CEO Roman Stanek on Business Intelligence...

      James Maguire - May 4, 2022 0
      I spoke with Roman Stanek, CEO of GoodData, about business intelligence, data as a service, and the frustration that many executives have with data...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×