Information systems variables and management productivity

The companies in the Premier 100 list published by ComputerWorld (CW) in 1994 were classified into groups based on the information productivity index (IPI) computed by Paul Strassmann. Discriminant analysis was used to identify the significant discriminating information systems factors between the two groups. They are: 'number of years the Chief Information Officer (CIO) has been in the company in that position,' 'proportion of software resources spent on client server applications,' and 'percentage of software budget spent on new development.' On average the CIOs in the high productivity group have been with the company for three years, as compared to eight years in the low productivity group. The companies in the high group spent 54% of the software development budget on client server applications, as compared to 35% for the low productivity group. Companies in the high productivity group spent 46% of software budget on in-house development of new applications, as opposed to 60% for the low productivity group. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.