Understanding Benefits Management Success: Results of a Field Study

The realization of benefits from IS/IT investments has consistently been reported as one of the major challenges of organizations. This paper reports on the findings from an exploratory field study on how benefits management success ultimately contributes to better IS/IT exploitation. A total of 34 semistructured interviews were held within 29 organizations. The study applies resource-based theory to examine the benefits management resources required and the process through which organizations translate such resources into benefits management competencies. The result is a framework offering items under three dimensions to outline how benefits management ultimately contributes to better IS/IT exploitation. The dimensions are: (1) benefits management resources, (2) benefits management capability and (3) contextual factors. The analysis finds that organizations develop benefits management capability in various stages: (1) benefits measurement competency, (2) benefits planning competency, and (3) benefits implementation competency. The results of our study also reveal that resources alone are not sufficient for successful benefits management. Organizations also need to establish the contextual factors: business/IT alignment, integration of benefits management into management processes and top management support.