Study: Cancelled IT projects on the rise in Asia Pacific

A recent study of the governance of IT projects in the Asia Pacific has revealed that enterprises have the tendency to prematurely end projects for a variety of reasons. The study has prompted an Asia-based organisation to encourage better IT project governance as investing in IT projects in the region is seen as crucial.

The survey by ISACA, a non-profit association of more than 100,000 IT governance professionals in 180 countries, revealed that 20 percent of organisations in the region have ended or cancelled an IT-related project before it was fully implemented.

The ISACA 2012 Governance of Enterprise IT (GEIT) Survey involved more than 700 business and IT professionals in the AP region. Sixty-eight percent of the respondents come from organisations with more than 1,000 employees.

Reasons
There were different reasons given for the cancellation of the projects. Thirty-six percent of the respondents cited a change of business needs as the reason, while 27 percent were of the opinion that the projects did not deliver as promised. IT staffing shortage was the reason cited by 45 percent of respondents. Another 41 percent complained of project overrun while 38 percent noted the high cost of the IT project yet there was no clear return on investment.

This trend and reasons cited were a concern for ISACA as they see IT projects as investments.

"When IT investment is projected to rise, and yet one in five organisations had the experience of halting an IT project in the past year, it is clear that there is a need for more effective enterprise IT governance," said Simon Chan, president, ISACA China Hong Kong Chapter. "Organisations need to protect their IT investments and this is one of the key values governance and management of enterprise IT can offer."

ISACA recommends that organisations develop an effective IT governance process keeping in mind the importance of IT as an investment that can produce cost savings. The organisation suggests the GEIT processes that can also address short- and long-term benefits while managing IT risks and increasing competitiveness.