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Performance Artist

Business performance is the measure of IT value — full stop

The value of a business investing in IT - like investing in any other asset, such as real estate, a new factory or a TV commercial - is its ability to support and improve business performance. This means that IT value is business value and is expressed as the ratio of business performance to IT investment.

The CIO can set an example for the entire IT team by focusing discussions on the business - inside and outside the IT organization

This definition of IT value is simple, but the implications are profound. Any discussion of IT value is ultimately meaningless, unless it's framed in terms of changes in business performance. Cost always matters for IT as for anything else that a business does, but cost is not value. Thus, a key point that deserves particular emphasis: IT performance must be connected to business performance to be meaningful to business executives.

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