Digital Outcome Optimization : Ensuring a Return on Investment of Digital Strategy

Public sector organizations must avoid expensive, inefficient cost or schedule variances that exhaust the resources of a project, and in response many deploy digital initiatives without clear, direct evidence of a quantifiable return on investment. This investigation determined if digital initiatives have a measurable return on investment for projects in the public sector, and could rationalize investment. A systematic review questioned, In public sector organizations, does the evidence suggest that the application of operational excellence ensures a ROI from digital initiatives? Scientific Management was the theoretical lens. The findings and conclusions of 43 peer-reviewed scholarly articles provided the data on optimization, digitalization, their synergy and benefits. The key findings are: 1. The combination of digitalization and optimization has quantifiable positive effect; 2. The combination makes benefits predictable; 3. The combination is testable with incremental deployment; 4. The combination makes the return on investment measurable; 5. The combination is compatible with any office design. This research improves understanding of how to quantify and deliberately plan the impact of digital initiatives. Mangers should: 1. Select the intended human outcome (customer value or staff effectiveness), then 2. Make five key management choices, 3. Select an optimization toolset, and 4. Implement the appropriate Industry 4.0 technology