Why move to BT: The fundamental reason

Conventional software engineering methodologies and project teams are pretty strong in one aspect. They use several metrics — some of these metrics focus on software quality, some others focus on software methodology, and yet others focus on project management. Even methods exist to help teams define and use metrics. Naturally, teams today are capable of delivering higher quality software on time.

However, enterprise CEOs don't appear to be very happy. Year after year, there are reports on overall poor returns from IT investments, often expressed in terms of poor business-IT alignment and high integration and BPR costs.

So, organizations such as Forrester Research are calling for a move to Business Technology or BT, where the focus would instead be on business results. Message is clear: CEOs and CIOs want business results, not just quality software delivered on time. Stated differently, "while there is value in software and project metrics, we must value business metrics more."


Additional reading: Read Mark McGregor's thoughts on this issue (Question 3); scroll down or click here