Logical sponsors IT best practice study

Cranfield School of Management begins qualitative analysis

Cranfield School of Management is carrying out research for reseller Logical into how IT project management can more effectively deliver business benefits.

Logical, a co-sponsor of the work, wants to use the research to improve best practice methods for designing IT projects.

"This study will take us into the realms of qualitative analysis which will help us improve processes and the interaction between users and tools," said Beth Rogers, business development manager at Logical.

The first stage will see Cranfield examining the best practice models already in the public domain, then looking at case studies from the sponsor companies which represent all corners of the IT industry.

"As a sponsor we will get the first [look] at the findings before they are in the public domain and we can develop our offering," said Rogers.

She added that there is always scope for introducing new processes for best practice involved with IT projects.

"There are always ways to improve and we want to find the next possible [improvement] and make sure we are first with it," she said.

Richard Ashmore, managing director at reseller Deverill, sugested that this type of research will eventually filter through to the channel and benefit other resellers.

He said that best prectices are "evolutionary" and that it is useful to get a respected institution like Cranfield to study them.

According to Ashmore, resellers should constantly review their own processes and look at what other companies are doing to ensure that they keep up.

Rogers agreed that the industry as a whole will eventually benefit from the research. "It's a contribution to improvements in the industry as a whole," she said.

She confirmed that Cranfield was chosen because its specialist infrastructure systems research centre has the capability to test best practices in IT.