Benefits Management and its applicability in practice

Abstract: This master thesis treats the subject of Benefits Management, which purpose is to organizing and managing, such that potential benefits arising from the use of IT are actually realized. The purpose with this study has been to clarify some of the existing problems in introducing Benefits Management into an organization. Information systems and technology investments in organizations are substantial and growing, and at the same time there exist a want of showing an actual value of an investment and to improve benefits realization within projects. While formal methodologies and techniques for computing investments are generally used, relatively less formality is applied to managing and realizing their benefits. This, despite that IT evaluation is one of the most researched topics in the IS literature, with an outcome of rigorous and replicable toolset of methods. This study gives answer to what is required for Benefits Management to be applicable in practice. This is done by a comparison between the Benefits Management process and an existing project process within a real organization. In addition an investigation is done regarding how people within this organization experiences and handles benefits throughout projects. Our study shows, that to be able to apply a Benefits Management approach in practice there is a need for adjustments regarding the attitude towards benefits and what an organization put into the concept business benefit. It is also of great importance that there is a clear traceability of each benefit through the whole project regarding where in the business it will occur and who in the organization that should be responsible for its delivery.