IT Success!: Towards a New Model for Information Technology

2.2. The process breakdown for business (i.e. non-IT) activities

Let's now compare this with general business activities in the non-IT world. Here we end up with real clients and vendors, which are legal business entities with contractual relationships.

Figure 2.2. High-level processes for business (i.e. non-IT) activities

The activity can be either B-to-C (Business-to-Consumer, e.g. you or me buying a car or a house), or B-to-B (Business-to-Business, e.g. companies buying products or services from each other). In either case a client turns to a vendor to solve a problem by acquiring a particular product or service, with the following underlying processes (see Fig 2.2):

• Define Objectives and concept: The client defines the objectives she expects to meet by purchasing the product or service. This can be explicit and based on hard numbers (more common for B-to-B), or implicit and based on intangible drivers and advertising pressure (more common for B-to-C).

• Do initial cost–benefit analysis: Since the cost of the product or service is usually coming out of the client's pocket or budget, she compares the price (or better, the annual costs – or better still, the total lifetime costs) with the expected benefits, and arrives at a decision on whether to go ahead or explore alternatives. Whether this is explicit (e.g. ROI or some equivalent) or implicit ('Should I or shouldn't I?'), a ...