The document discusses how organizations can maximize the value of existing IT investments over long periods of time. It argues that businesses do not fully exploit existing technology and jump from project to project without maximizing the value of each implementation. The document presents a model called "The Long Conversation" which views IT implementation as a long-term learning process rather than individual projects. This requires new organizational capabilities to support social learning over IT journeys that last far beyond initial deployment.

1. The Long Conversation:
Maximizing Business Value from IT Investment
We argue that organizations
need to maximize the value of
their existing IT assets. It
takes a long time and a lot of
learning. In doing so,
organizations need new
organizational capabilities and
social networks.
©The Long Conversation: Maximizing Business Value from IT Investment – Lorenzo, Kawalek, Gonzalez, and Ramdani 1

2. The Long Conversation:
Maximizing Business Value from IT Investment
 We are living in exponential
times.
 New technology announcements
every day.
 This is exciting.
©The Long Conversation: Maximizing Business Value from IT Investment – Lorenzo, Kawalek, Gonzalez, and Ramdani 2

3. The Long Conversation:
Maximizing Business Value from IT Investment
Businesses assimilate
technology slowly.
How should one cope
with that?
©The Long Conversation: Maximizing Business Value from IT Investment – Lorenzo, Kawalek, Gonzalez, and Ramdani 3

4. The Long Conversation:
Maximizing Business Value from IT Investment
The case of Enterprise Systems  For the last 20 years, companies have
been implementing and adopting
large-scale IT, most notably enterprise
 A study of total costs of Enterprise systems (ES).
Applications ownership by the Aberdeen  They have done this in order to
automate transactions, reduce costs,
Group reveals that companies with increase customer satisfaction,
turnovers between $1–$5 billion pay an integrate with suppliers, and make
average of $5,920,785, and companies better decisions.
with turnovers between $50 and 100  Examples of ES include applications
million pay an average of $1,081,869 for a for:
• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP),
complete ES package, which includes the • Customer Relationship Management
configuration and implementation of (CRM),
• Human Resource Management
software, after-sales service, and (HRM),
maintenance. • Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)
and,
• Supply Chain Management (SCM).
©The Long Conversation: Maximizing Business Value from IT Investment – Lorenzo, Kawalek, Gonzalez, and Ramdani 4

5. The Long Conversation:
Maximizing Business Value from IT Investment
Businesses are not able to exploit
the full potential of their existing
IT investment technology.
We jump to IT project by project like
some kind of hyperactive frog and
significant amount of IT value is left
Business on the table.
Productivity
As a consequence, IT is
underutilized.
This happens every day, even in our
individual interaction with
technology.
©The Long Conversation: Maximizing Business Value from IT Investment – Lorenzo, Kawalek, Gonzalez, and Ramdani 5

6. The Long Conversation:
Maximizing Business Value from IT Investment
The main priority of businesses today
is the value creation from the existing
(already implemented) technology.
Executives should milk the current IT
platform.
©The Long Conversation: Maximizing Business Value from IT Investment – Lorenzo, Kawalek, Gonzalez, and Ramdani 6

7. The Long Conversation:
Maximizing Business Value from IT Investment
 The application of the Long
Conversation model has an
important set of practical
implications for
organizations.
 We have summarized these
into three layers
1) The Business Value ladder,
2) The Long Conversation
process, and
3) The Organizational
capabilities.
©The Long Conversation: Maximizing Business Value from IT Investment – Lorenzo, Kawalek, Gonzalez, and Ramdani 7

8. The Long Conversation:
Maximizing Business Value from IT Investment
©The Long Conversation: Maximizing Business Value from IT Investment – Lorenzo, Kawalek, Gonzalez, and Ramdani 8

9. The Long Conversation:
Maximizing Business Value from IT Investment
 We see it as akin to a biological process.
©The Long Conversation: Maximizing Business Value from IT Investment – Lorenzo, Kawalek, Gonzalez, and Ramdani 9

10. The Long Conversation:
Maximizing Business Value from IT Investment
Managing the implementation
Project management vs. an emergent learning process
Managing knowledge and learning
Traditional training vs. social learning
CEO Role
Project support vs. Capabilities development support
Key Users Role
Implementing the system vs. Mastering the system
ES Team
Project team vs. Social network
©The Long Conversation: Maximizing Business Value from IT Investment – Lorenzo, Kawalek, Gonzalez, and Ramdani 10

11. The Long Conversation:
Maximizing Business Value from IT Investment
Directed incrementalism
Key to handle inherent uncertainty and
political context
Balancing direction with
incremental execution (action-
learning, and fast learning cycles).
©The Long Conversation: Maximizing Business Value from IT Investment – Lorenzo, Kawalek, Gonzalez, and Ramdani 11

12. The Long Conversation:
Maximizing Business Value from IT Investment
 IT journeys instead of IT projects.
 Longtime, long-life journeys, instead of short IT projects.
 This is our long conversation.
 When we talk of the Long Conversation, we are talking of the whole process of living with IT,
from its conception, past the point of accommodation and through into the ongoing processes
of learning and innovation.
©The Long Conversation: Maximizing Business Value from IT Investment – Lorenzo, Kawalek, Gonzalez, and Ramdani 12

13. The Long Conversation:
Maximizing Business Value from IT Investment
Thank you very much!
Oswaldo Lorenzo
Deusto Business School
Peter Kawalek
Manchester
Business School
Gastón Gonzalez
Expertia
Consulting Group
Ben Ramdani
Bristol
Business School
©The Long Conversation: Maximizing Business Value from IT Investment – Lorenzo, Kawalek, Gonzalez, and Ramdani 13