IT must promote core businesses and increase competitiveness

S&T takes a clear stance regarding the current industry discussions about the strategic value of IT: IT strategy must support companies’ business objectives and cannot be developed and implemented solely with the aim of reducing costs. S&T offers its customers comprehensive consulting and implementation support for the challenges encountered along the entire IT value creation chain, as well as providing assistance in transparently portraying the benefits of IT.

82% of CIOs and IT managers believe that a difficulty in conclusively demonstrating how IT contributes to business success negatively influences their budgets and leads to a reduced internal perception of IT benefits. This was the result of a study publicized by silicon.de in October 2007. 71% of those surveyed furthermore assume that a lack of opportunities to unequivocally portray the business value of their work prevents them from playing a more important role on the company’s board of directors.

IT is not a factor in strategic decision-making processes

The January 2008 market survey undertaken by Omniboss, contracted by Touchpaper, “Good vs Great IT”, confirms these results. The study surveyed 125 CIOs and IT managers in private and public organizations in Europe. According to the survey, almost half of those responsible for IT are not included in decision-making processes affecting important organizational changes, but are engaged only in the implementation of the project. The reason for this is that the IT department is often only perceived to be a supporting body and not a department that directly influences the value creation chain of the company. “Our daily experience shows that many IT strategies are dominated simply by the issue of cost reduction.

The maintenance of operations with decreasing financial and personnel resources eats into the capacity of those responsible for IT. Value creating issues, such as the alignment of business processes to changing market requirements or investment in IT structures contributing to customer acquisition and retention, take a back seat all too often”, explains Georg Komornyik, Regional General Manager at S&T DACH.

Aligning IT with business processes and communicating the added value of IT

In principle, S&T sees two major spheres of activity: Firstly, IT must be clearly aligned with company strategy, must promote the company’s core business and thus also contribute to innovative capabilities and competitiveness. Secondly, indicators of success must be defined in order to be able to clearly measure and communicate the performance of IT with respect to strategic business objectives. Komornyik: “If IT identifies and clearly states its value contribution to business, then the predominantly cost-related perception of IT to date will change to an appreciation of the added value. That the need for support in this area is increasing is demonstrated not only by the public debate, but also by the increasing enquiries from our customers.”

S&T: Support from experienced experts

With the IMG experts now also at its disposal, S&T has strengthened its comprehensive implementation and change management skills. The 1,200 consultants across the Group have process and industry related experience and utilize the broad technological expertise of the Group to serve customers. Using proven methods, the highly qualified specialists plan and implement the installation of suitable systems for measuring key performance indicators. “It must be the ultimate objective of all IT consulting, solutions and service projects to not only promote the business itself, but to also support IT business innovation. Christian Rosner, CEO at S&T, is convinced that when that is achieved, the importance of IT in business success will also be recognized. “We are positioning ourselves in this area as a competent international partner providing optimal strategic and implementation support, both locally and internationally.”