Unfortunately, these two are very hard to quantify, so the only reliable metric budget-slaves have is the expenses. These translate very simply in payroll + other. Since it’s very hard to reduce payroll, managers are pressured to reduce the “other” category. And that simply means that software (and hardware to some extent) purchases are more often than not cut out of existence.

This doesn’t occur at companies that understand that IT capabilities are a competitive asset; only at companies where IT is a cost center–which is most of them, I believe.