An Economist Intelligence Unit report
sponsored by SAP
Sustained growth through
operational excellence
Spotlight on IT
© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2008
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Sustained growth through operational excellence
Spotlight on IT
Sustained growth through operational excellence is
an Economist Intelligence Unit report sponsored
by SAP. The Economist Intelligence Unit bears
sole responsibility for this report. The Economist
Intelligence Unit’s editorial team conducted the
interviews and wrote the report. The findings and
views expressed in this report do not necessarily
reflect the views of the sponsor. Ken Waldie was
the author of the report and Dan Armstrong was
the editor. Mike Kenny was responsible for layout
and design. Our thanks are due to all of the survey
respondents and interviewees for their time and
insights.
March 2008
Preface
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© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2008
Sustained growth through operational excellence
Spotlight on IT
Operational excellence: Spotlight on IT
executives have a crucial
role to play in promoting operational excellence.
Improvement requires visibility. Visibility requires
data. And it is the IT function that knows whether the
right data exists, where it can be found, and how it
can be captured and presented to the people who can
make a difference. IT may not actively participate in
all aspects of operations. But without investment in
IT resources and commitment from an organisation’s
IT professionals, it is unlikely that any operational
excellence initiative can succeed.
Of the 946 executives who participated in the 2008
Economist Intelligence Unit operational excellence
survey sponsored by SAP, 182 (19%) come from the
IT function. This paper—one of four function-specific
papers—is based on the IT responses and follow-up
interviews with technology executives. The other
function-specific papers focus on operations, finance,
and sales and marketing.
Getting closer to the business
IT executives are playing a more proactive role than
they