Cost Justification of an automated data collection system

There was a time when companies invested in computers for the sake of the technology. Management assumed that computerized systems were always more efficient. According to the Wall Street Journal, companies now demand to know the savings from all capital investments, including computer systems. Today, virtually all automation must be financially justified. Recent press indicates that attitudes may have even shifted to the opposite extreme in some companies. For example, a recent pull-out section in the Wall Street Journal on technology opens with: “It’s the morning after. For the past ten years companies have been on a blind-faith buying binge investing well over $1 trillion in new computer systems to embrace the future and gain a competitive edge. Now, many of them are awakening with a hangover and wondering: What was it all for, and where did we go wrong?”*

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