New research casts doubt on the ability to measure the value of IT spending.

According to the survey by Centrix Software, knowing how frequently an application is being used is a “challenge” for most IT managers: 54% of CIOs surveyed could come up with this info, but they’d find it tough. Another 22% said it would be extremely difficult or impossible. Just 24% thought it would be easy to provide this information on application usage.

Along the same lines, the ability to measure the true cost of application delivery across an entire organization is an issue for IT professionals, particularly in larger companies, with more than three quarters of respondents calling the task “difficult.”

Of the respondents, 31% said that they would find it extremely difficult, or impossible, to measure their costs; 45% said it was somewhat difficult; only 24% of those surveyed said it would be easy to provide this information.

Pretty interesting that the number who’ve got the ability to measure app usage and those who can figure out what it costs are pretty close to the same. Seems like a good place to start.

Lisa Hammond, CEO, Centrix Software, commented, “The results of this survey show that many organizations don’t have the tools in place to know if their IT investments are delivering the maximum amount of value to their business, or whether they are continuing down a path that will ultimately cost them more than they thought. Many businesses harbor unnecessary costs due to ‘software sprawl,’ the misallocation of resources, over-licensing on software or not taking the most efficient path to delivering IT. By having the ability to track and monitor their application usage, immediate cost savings could be made without affecting performance.”