World-class IT organisations of the future will have total cost per end user of $US4300 or less, software applications that are an average of 2.4 years old or newer, and one data centre per 1000 end users, according to an ongoing study on information technology and competitive advantage conducted by Hackett Benchmarking/solutions in Hudson, Ohio.
The study, which tracks IT operations at 1400 global companies (75 per cent of which are manufacturers), also found that companies currently spend an average of $US9167 on IT per employee (including one-time related charges for year 2000). And companies in the top 25 per cent of respondents have standardised at least 90 per cent of their systems, compared with fourth-quartile companies that have standardised only half their systems.
In addition, the study found that the average company is late and over budget with more than half of its large IT projects, compared with first-quartile companies, which deliver projects on time and under budget 13 per cent more often.