Just Who's Talking ROI?

Despite all of the talk about companies demanding hard numbers to show the financial return from IT investments, most CFOs put more emphasis on soft measures of return when it comes to customer-centric technologies. A study of 231 financial and 73 IT executives by CFO Research Services and Saugatuck Technology found that CFOs consider hard and soft returns but give more weight to nonfinancial metrics such as improved customer satisfaction and loyalty. CIOs also weigh nonfinancial metrics more heavily than hard ROI, but less so than CFOs. CIOs may want to rethink this: Granted, they're under pressure to make the business case for an investment to the boss, but the boss is typically a CFO.