Evaluating The Use of Business Cases for Investing in Information Systems

Information systems (IS) investment decisions are made using business cases, which compare the costs and benefits of IS investments. As information technology has developed, the types of costs and benefits, and who they fall on, have changed. This has implications for the utility of business cases, as the information they provide to decision-makers may be insufficient or not holistic enough. This paper uses a scoping review to explore this issue and describes the limitations of business cases, in that they do not capture the information necessary to understand the effects of technologies outside the focal firm. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research in this domain.