New White Paper From ComSci and Rubin Worldwide Warns That False Transparency Leads to Flawed Decisions

Businesses' Transparency Efforts Often Overlook Reporting Mechanisms, Resource Recognition and Budgeting Processes


ISELIN, NJ--(Marketwire - Apr 13, 2011) - A new white paper published today by ComSci and Rubin Worldwide cautions that false transparency prevents businesses from providing clear technology cost accountability at both the business 'consumer' and IT 'supplier' levels. The white paper, The REAL Value of IT Cost Transparency: Overcoming False Transparency, explores false transparency as organizations develop capabilities to communicate technology value and performance that only partially monitor a full technology portfolio, subsequently misrepresenting how business objectives and technology assets are aligned.

ComSci, LLC, is a leading provider of Technology Financial Management (TFM) capabilities for IT Cost Transparency and Demand Management. Rubin Worldwide is a research firm dedicated to pioneering the field of technology economics.

False transparency is often the result of an IT organization's limited strategic role in corporate management or decentralized business practices.

"Most IT organizations are not equipped with the full scope of their businesses' total technology portfolio because they lack adequate tracking mechanisms," stated Robert J. Svec, president and CEO of ComSci. "Even the most forthcoming transparency efforts can yield inaccurate or misleading IT metrics that hinder true transparency and lead to fallible business decisions."

By establishing true insight into the costs and consumption of the resources under their responsibility, technology managers can establish credibility and assume a stronger role in strategically managing technology resources. The complimentary white paper highlights how complete technology transparency should be addressed at four basic levels:

  • Consumption Transparency -- IT can help businesses make better decisions about its use of technology by providing comprehensive insight into the actual technology volumes consumed by each part of the business and the associated costs and resources.
  • Total Technology Transparency -- While technology costs can be embedded in lines of business or business functions, total technology captures all technology assets and costs, regardless of budgeting practices and ownership.
  • Technology Performance Transparency -- Recognizing that technology and business audiences require different measures to manage their respective activities, technology performance management addresses domain specific measures that technology organizations use to optimize technology assets.
  • Business Oriented Technology Performance Transparency -- Technology organizations continue to struggle to communicate the value of technology in clear business terms. Business oriented technology performance transparency communicates the role that technology has in creating value, optimizing costs and responding to changing market conditions.

"The first step to achieving true technology cost transparency comes from understanding the many components involved," stated Jed Rubin, Principal of Rubin Worldwide. "With many facets requiring business buy-in, technology organizations need to effectively communicate their operational activities before they can begin to have strategic discussions."

ComSci offers comprehensive capabilities that help proactively manage the business of IT. Their Technology Financial Management (TFM) BPaaS modules -- delivered with continual 'best practices' advice -- provide the increased IT transparency needed by corporations to understand and shape technology demand, ensuring measureable positive ROI visibility for all IT investments.

The new ComSci and Rubin Worldwide white paper, The REAL Value of IT Cost Transparency: Overcoming False Transparency, is now available. Click here to download this informative new white paper. (Or paste the following URL into your browser: http://www.comsci.com/whitepaper_0411.php)

About Rubin Worldwide
Rubin Worldwide has positioned itself as a thought leader through its 25+ years of research history that provides unparalleled insights into technology and business competitiveness. Their work has helped leading companies and nations use technology to drive measurable change and continuously enhance performance. For more information, visit: www.rubinworldwide.com

About ComSci
ComSci delivers SaaS-based Technology Financial Management solutions that empower organizations to implement more effective IT financial management processes that support their ITIL V3 initiatives. Through decades of experience and its suite of Web 2.0 IT finance capabilities, ComSci helps IT organizations reduce costs by enhancing technology transparency and visibility, which in turn enables business units to understand and optimize demand and utilization of technology resources. ComSci is headquartered in Iselin, New Jersey, and was founded in 1971. ComSci has a growing number of clients for which it provides IT Financial Management capabilities including The McGraw-Hill Companies, The Bank of New York Mellon, Whirlpool, NYU Medical Center, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, SAP AG, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and UBS Investment Bank. Visit www.comsci.com for further information.