Case analyses of the “3 Rs” of information technology benefit management : Realise, retrofit and review

Investments in information technology (IT) are large and growing and require management attention. This study investigated processes associated with IT benefit management (ITBM) to realise benefits during the development of a new system, to retrofit ITBM processes against an existing system, and to review ITBM processes against an existing system without retrofitting. The case study approach was used to ameliorate the shortage of qualitative research in IT value. The study identified key processes required during IT benefit realisation, changes in processes during retrofitting and strong and weak processes during review. All three approaches were found to be operational effective with the review approach having some strategic effectiveness. Operational effectiveness ensured that social subsystem costs and benefits and complementary assets were identified. To make the review approach more strategically effective requires definitive IT goals to be set. The application of the “3Rs” during case analyses enabled success factors for ITBM to be identified.