?When is an IT investment too expensive for a company?? an IT specialist asked at TechRepublic?s online forum. One response, evidently written by someone who has done this before, says he generally uses ?payback calculations? to determine how many months until a positive cash flow results from the investment.

He suggests that as a benchmark a chief information officer should look at the IT costs typical of various industries. For such figures take a look at Information Week?s Top 500 list at www.informationweek.com.

The survey lists IT costs as a percentage of a company?s revenue. Depending on the sector this ranges from 1 percent to 5 percent.

While such standard figures might impress the boss, another writer notes that IT expert Paul Strassmann has found that there was no correlation between IT spending as a proportion of gross revenue and IT effectiveness.

I?ve looked at Strassmann?s paper and it?s brilliant in outlining the true nature of attempting to get funding for an IT project. Strassmann also demonstrates that there was no correlation between percentage IT spend and shareholder return.

?The quest for demonstrating the directly measurable value of IT can be added to the list of fascinating but hitherto unfulfilled ambitions to attract academic fame or consulting contracts,? Strassmann warns in his paper, which is available at www.strassmann.com.

Here in synopsis is Strassmann?s six rules for the harried IT project manager to follow when trying to get funding.

First: ?Follow the Money?. The most important factor in making any claims about the contribution of IT to corporate value is a conservative attitude, Strassmann writes.

Cost analysis will show that IT can be only an enabling catalyst and not the engine that delivers.

Rule two follows rule one: Do not let the accountants measure the value of the project. The greatest obstacle to the demonstration of IT value can be found in conventional accounting methods, he writes (That should make some consultants in Bermuda feel worried about their jobs!).

Rule three is: Focus your presentation and development on the project on improving shareholders? value.

Rule four is: Make a commitment to improving the value of the company after discounting for the risks associated with a particular IT project.

Rule five: Keep away from revenue ratios.

Rule six: Justify the infrastructure you hope to set in place. The truest statement in his essay perhaps captures a philosophy sadly missing in many of the IT experts that I have been in contact with and in the end projects I?ve had to endure. ?IT is best reflected in what it contributes to the capacity of people to deliver greater value to customers,? Strassmann says. If you?re in IT take this statement and paste it on your door to remind you of why you are there.

While I don?t think any American is going to vote next week for their choice of president based on his views about technology, it?s important to map out the way the two candidates think about the issue.

The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) posed a series of questions to both President George Bush and to his opponent John Kerry and has published their responses online at www.comptia.org. While Bush gives some detailed answers to the questions it is his response to the issue of protecting personal privacy that caused me to burst into giggles. Who can believe Bush when he claims his administration ?has worked to improve cyber security to help prevent electronic communications from being compromised?? In fact he has attempted to do the opposite.

This is an administration that is attempting to break down every barrier protecting access to your e-mails and other digital records, whether you live in the US or are going through a computer server in the US, so you should sit up and take notice. Thankfully, just last month a US federal judge ruled that the government?s ability to conduct secret and unchallengeable searches of Internet and telephone records (through the Patriot Act) violates the Constitution.

He also ruled that the provision in the Patriot Act that bars service providers from revealing that a search ever took place is also unconstitutional. Hurray for wisdom.

Kerry sometimes seems evasive in outlining his policies and does not really flesh out any tangible measures. I?m just grateful that he did not make any extravagant claims, perhaps remembering the ridicule Al Gore was exposed to after seeming to claim that he was responsible for the ?invention? of the Internet.

In reality Gore had said he ?took the initiative in creating the Internet?, a bad way of saying he was one of the first politicians to recognise it for the force that it has become. But that did not stop the Republicans from successfully using the statement it to help make Gore look ridiculous.

Legendary BBC broadcaster and music fan John Peel died early this week. When I worked as a teacher in the bush in Botswana the radio was my only means of information about the rest of the world (since there was no electricity or telephones available in the village). Peel?s show was a lifeline for me and I spent many happy nights keeping track of new music. When I returned to Canada after two years, I found I hadn?t missed a thing. You can listen to Peel?s last shows online at www.bbc.co.uk. Go to the Radio One site and click on ?Listen Again?.

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