43% of IT managers say that their organisations’ business managers and the Board simply accept problems as a necessary evil
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11 December, 2007
1 in 3 companies’ IT projects fail to perform against expectations, research from Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), (BSE: TCS.BO, NSE: TCS.NS) has revealed. Yet despite these worrying levels of failure to deliver, 43% of organisations say that their business managers and the Board accept problems as the norm. This attitude is especially common in Europe (44%) and AsiaPac (48%).
Despite the general poor performance of IT projects globally, such results do not evoke a sharp reaction from management. In fact, 69% of respondents said that their managers and the Board continued to provide the necessary financial support for these projects. Common problems cited included overrun on time (62%), budget (49%) and higher than expected maintenance costs (47%). In addition, 1 in 4 companies said that they find business users are reluctant to adopt the new systems once implemented.
The research, which surveyed 800 middle and senior IT managers in large companies across 8 countries worldwide, was carried out by Dynamic Markets on behalf of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Markets covered included the US, UK, France, Germany, India, Japan, Singapore and Sweden.
As a result of the research, Tata Consultancy Services is urging businesses to re-think their IT services and outsourcing strategies. Organisations need to work with partners that can explain the value of their work at a Board level and provide Key Performance Indicators to show the benefit of the investments made.
In addition, they should work with businesses that can demonstrate a clear ability to execute on time, on budget and to plan.
“Businesses should look at how their partners operate before signing on the dotted line,” said N. Chandrasekaran, chief operating officer and executive director, Tata Consultancy Services. “They should consider longevity of partnerships, repeat business, and organic growth of relationships. Financial credibility and global reach are also important in today’s world economy – ultimately what businesses should look for is the ability to provide the right services at the right cost in the right timeframe. This is ultimately the ‘Experience Certainty’ approach that we have adopted at TCS.”
For further information and to see further details and content from the research report, please see A Call for Raising Industry Benchmarks in IT Service Delivery.
About Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, business solutions and outsourcing organization that delivers real results to global businesses, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match. TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT and IT-enabled services delivered through its unique Global Network Delivery Model™, recognized as the benchmark of excellence in software development.
A part of the Tata Group, India’s largest industrial conglomerate, TCS has over 100,000 of the world's best trained IT consultants in 47 countries. The company generated consolidated revenues of US $4.3 billion for fiscal year ended 31 March 2007 and is listed on the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange in India. For more information, visit us at www.tcs.com
Study Methodology
The report was commissioned by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and details quantitative research with middle and senior IT managers involved in driving IT projects to completion in large companies across 8 countries worldwide.
A sample of 800 interviews was collected with middle and senior IT managers. All respondents confirmed prior to interview that they were involved in driving IT projects to completion and that their company has 250 or more employees worldwide. The sample contains a wide variety of industry sectors.