6. Managing Information Technology and
Shared Services as a Business
There’s a trend toward using management accounting for
internal chargebacks (like an invoice) from service
providers to service users. This information also helps
establish what are effectively “transfer prices” based on
cost consumption rates for service-level agreements
(SLAs).
As background to understand this trend, consider these
questions: What do some diners do at an “all
you can eat” restaurant buffet? They gorge
themselves. What might you do if there are
free items at an exhibitor booth at a conference?
You might take more than one. It’s
human nature that when something is free,
people don’t care how much they consume
whatever the item or service may be.
How is this different when an organization’s
information technology (IT) or shared
services are free to internal departments?
The substantial growth in IT over the past
decade has moved it from a back-office support
function to a critical and strategic
function. User demands for faster response
times, more information, and sophisticated
equipment are driving IT spending upward
at an ever-increasing rate so that IT now
ranks among the top category of expenditures
for many organizations. If IT doesn’t
in some way internally “charge back” its
expenses to its users with an internal invoice
itemizing all the service and asset use fees,
then the users’ expenses will get out of
control.
Not surprisingly, IT spending in some
industries that are information intensive,
such as financial institutions, has reached
10% of revenue. After Y2K (when there was
supposed to be major havoc with computer
systems as the year 2000 dawned), the
increase in IT spending forced many more
organizations to focus cost management and
performance improvement efforts on their information
technology groups. Many techniques used in commercial
manufacturing and service industries are now being
applied specifically to the IT function. Companies are
employing activity-based cost management (ABC/M) and
IT capacity usage reporting systems to develop cost information
used in both cost management and performance
improvement efforts. ABC/M and capacity usage information
are supporting multidimensional cost analysis,
performance measurement and monitoring, creation of
internal IT markets, user/customer cost visibility, driverbased
planning, and capacity management. Clearly, IT
spending no longer can be managed on the back of an
envelope.
6. Managing Information Technology and
Shared Services as a Business
There’s a trend toward using management accounting for
internal chargebacks (like an invoice) from service
providers to service users. This information also helps
establish what are effectively “transfer prices” based on
cost consumption rates for service-level agreements
(SLAs).
As background to understand this trend, consider these
questions: What do some diners do at an “all
you can eat” restaurant buffet? They gorge
themselves. What might you do if there are
free items at an exhibitor booth at a conference?
You might take more than one. It’s
human nature that when something is free,
people don’t care how much they consume
whatever the item or service may be.
How is this different when an organization’s
information technology (IT) or shared
services are free to internal departments?
The substantial growth in IT over the past
decade has moved it from a back-office support
function to a critical and strategic
function. User demands for faster response
times, more information, and sophisticated
equipment are driving IT spending upward
at an ever-increasing rate so that IT now
ranks among the top category of expenditures
for many organizations. If IT doesn’t
in some way internally “charge back” its
expenses to its users with an internal invoice
itemizing all the service and asset use fees,
then the users’ expenses will get out of
control.
Not surprisingly, IT spending in some
industries that are information intensive,
such as financial institutions, has reached
10% of revenue. After Y2K (when there was
supposed to be major havoc with computer
systems as the year 2000 dawned), the
increase in IT spending forced many more
organizations to focus cost management and
performance improvement efforts on their information
technology groups. Many techniques used in commercial
manufacturing and service industries are now being
applied specifically to the IT function. Companies are
employing activity-based cost management (ABC/M) and
IT capacity usage reporting systems to develop cost information
used in both cost management and performance
improvement efforts. ABC/M and capacity usage information
are supporting multidimensional cost analysis,
performance measurement and monitoring, creation of
internal IT markets, user/customer cost visibility, driverbased
planning, and capacity management. Clearly, IT
spending no longer can be managed on the back of an
envelope.
การแปล กรุณารอสักครู่..