Understanding Benefits Management Success: Results of a Field Study.

TLDR

The realization of benefits from IS/IT investments has consistently been reported as one of the major challenges of organizations. The study explores how benefits management success contributes to better IS/IT exploitation. The study conducted 34 semistructured interviews across 29 organizations and applied resource‑based theory to examine the resources and processes that enable benefits management competencies. The study presents a framework with three dimensions—benefits management resources, capability, and contextual factors—showing that organizations develop capability through measurement, planning, and implementation stages, and that contextual factors such as business/IT alignment, integration into processes, and top‑management support are also required for successful benefits management.

Abstract

The realization of benefits from IS/IT investments has consistently been reported as one of the major challenges of organizations. This paper reports on the findings from an exploratory field study on how benefits management success ultimately contributes to better IS/IT exploitation. A total of 34 semistructured interviews were held within 29 organizations. The study applies resource-based theory to examine the benefits management resources required and the process through which organizations translate such resources into benefits management competencies. The result is a framework offering items under three dimensions to outline how benefits management ultimately contributes to better IS/IT exploitation. The dimensions are: (1) benefits management resources, (2) benefits management capability and (3) contextual factors. The analysis finds that organizations develop benefits management capability in various stages: (1) benefits measurement competency, (2) benefits planning competency, and (3) benefits implementation competency. The results of our study also reveal that resources alone are not sufficient for successful benefits management. Organizations also need to establish the contextual factors: business/IT alignment, integration of benefits management into management processes and top management support.