Every supplier of an information technology solution argues that deploying those solutions will boost productivity. Sometimes revenue gains are the claim. Perhaps more often operating cost savings are the bait. If you have worked with sales teams, you know that buyers always are skeptical of such claims.
Historical data since at least 1971 helps explain that skepticism. Though other forces are at work, it is hard to quantify the benefits of IT deployments, and probably also will be true of other promising “digital business transformation” efforts as well.
Since 1971, for example, productivity has generally been dropping in developed nations, for example. There are mitigating issues, many will argue.
The hype might have exaggerated real-world impact. Reaping rewards takes longer than we think. Others argue that we cannot measure productivity boosts when it is “quality” that changes (more output from machines that cost the same, or perhaps less, but have higher performance).
Other forces might counteract the productivity gains, perhaps because more work happens that is essentially overhead, without direct productive effect (tax, regulatory, compliance efforts, for example) or workers might be shifting from high-productivity to sectors of the economy with lower productivity.
The point is that buyers almost never actually believe the more-spectacular seller claims.
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