Social Service Agencies Should Use Several Ways to Evaluate ROI of Information Technology

OPEN MINDS Weekly News Wire Strategic Health Care News Before implementing new information technology systems, social service agencies should establish qualitative and quantitative goals to evaluate the return on investment (ROI) of the implementation. Traditionally, ROI is calculated as project benefits divided by project costs, with benefits assumed to be financial. However, social service organizations should use a broad range of goals, not only financial, to evaluate ROI, because information technology can affect many aspects of organizational function — productivity, human resources, financial, compliance, and service delivery. ROI measurements can include: Increased access to information for performance management Improved clinical and . . .