Offering regional and national programs, CIO (and CSO) events bring together some of the most respected names and thought leaders in information technology and security. Presented by CIOs and other senior level executives, these invitation-only programs offer timely topics and strong networking. Learn More »
Social Responsibility's Strategic Benefits
December 15, 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM US/Eastern (GMT-5)
Join Ed Granger-Happ, CIO of Save the Children, for a discussion of how creating an organization that is socially responsible improves staffing, retention, leadership development and overall corporate health.
Working With and Communicating to Your Board of Directors
January 13, 2009, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM US/Eastern (GMT-5)
CIO panelists who will share tips and experiences working with their boards: Twila Day of SYSCO; Jeff O'Hare, West Corp.; Marc West, formerly with H&R Block.
IT's Role in Growing Mid-Market Companies
January 14, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM ET (GMT-5)
Mid-market Council members will share their companies' stories and challenges in driving or coping with growth. Panelists represent Veterinary Pet Insurance, Medicis Pharmaceutical, and Intrax Cultural Exchange.
Learn more about the CIO Executive Council »
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April 01, 2006 — CIO —
As a percent of revenue
Pros: Easy to calculate; provides some basic insight into spending levels in specific industries. Widely used.
Cons: Averages can often mislead, masking wild variability in the sample. Fluctuating revenue can affect percentages. Doesn’t distinguish between strategic and nonstrategic spending; doesn’t describe impact, only costs.
LIGHTS-ON operations as a percent of revenue
Pros: Distinguishes between strategic and nonstrategic spending; can show trends in improved IT efficiency over time, even if overall spending doesn’t change.
Cons: More difficult to calculate. Definitions of strategic and nonstrategic IT vary across companies and industries. Not widely used.
Per employee
Pros: Easy to calculate and widely used. Maps IT spending directly to those consuming IT services. Can be used with percent of revenue to gauge the true similarity of companies in an industry.
Cons: Outsourcing can skew numbers. Numbers can be unnaturally high in capital-intensive industries. Does not describe IT effectiveness, only costs.
Per user
Pros: Can be useful for benchmarking the cost of well-understood categories of products and services, such as PCs or enterprise applications. Can be extrapolated into “unit cost” of automated services, such as ATMs in banking.
Cons: Does not differentiate between strategic and nonstrategic spending.
Industry standard metrics
Pros: Many industries have a favorite benchmark (such as “cost-per-ton” in the chemical industry) that is accurate and widely understood. Puts IT into a business context.
Cons: IT is generally one of the highest-cost services in a business. May make IT look egregiously expensive.
© 2008 CXO Media Inc.
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Get instant email notifications by topic when white papers, webcasts, and case studies are added to our library.
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Major E-Stores Malfunction on Black Friday and Cyber Monday
Clearwire, Sprint Close WiMax Deal
Netbooks: Small, Cheap -- and Fast?
Clearwire, Sprint Close WiMax Deal
'Social Mobile' Applications: the Missing Book
Vista SP2 Due Next April, Says Report
Just the basics, please. Sometimes we all need a refresher or we need to make sure our team and our colleagues are all on the same page.
Over 25 tutorials on everything from business intelligence to virtualization.
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