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	Issue TOC Print full article Print this page Download as PDF E-Mail this URL Discuss this article Flame the author     In this article Introduction Managerial Accounting 101 Clear-Cut Challenges Upgrades and Fuzzy Logic Executive Summary Stupid Manager Tricks Epoll Results

It's a brave new world for IT. While your expertise is as critical as ever, technology for its own sake won't fly. You need to incorporate business considerations and be as comfortable with concepts behind ROI and TCO as you are with those of VoIP and HBA.

At least, that's the case with the IT managers we interviewed for this special report.

Building a business case involves fostering business credibility, some skill with numbers, and a hefty dose of judgment and flexibility. In "Lessons From The Field: Beyond ROI" we tell you how to put these elements together to get your initiatives off the ground. As one manager points out, "There is no silver bullet. If there were, we could teach a monkey to do it."

"Projects That Defy ROI," looks at your safety nets--IDSs, hot backups, firewalls--and projects that provide unquantifiable but vital benefits, such as customer satisfaction. Don't be one of those companies that, in the words of Phil Mogavero, CEO of Data Systems Worldwide, become interested in intrusion detection only after their systems are compromised.

Finally, in "Technology ROI: The Siemens Formula," Klaus Stegemann, Siemens Corp.'s CFO, offers insight and examples of how his company evaluates IT projects. Bottom line, he says, the need must drive the technology.