The IT strategy audit: formulation and performance measurement at a UK bank

The popular link between competitive strategy and information technology often misleadingly assumes that benefits accrue from technical change irrespective of good management practice. Considers the results from field work on managing two IT projects at a UK bank. Investment in IT is generally determined on the basis of positive NPV. Project managers impose non‐negotiable performance targets on analyst/programmers. Current managerial fixation on performance measurement and control does not guarantee financial payback from IT investment. IT strategy audits focus too narrowly on financial performance criteria, and exclude qualitative information on organizational learning, skills development, team building and quality. Concludes by suggesting that IT systems development should not be perceived as a linear activity guided solely by a rule‐book methodology. Rather, IT strategy formulation and audit should incorporate a human dimension which facilitates organizational learning as a key determinant of IT success alongside the more traditional management role of performance monitoring and control.