How important Information Technology for getting a competitive edge? Due to economic slowdown in technology and banking sectors, thanks to sub prime crisis in US, firms are making relentless efforts to cut operating costs. Investment in Information technology, once perceived as an unavoidable investment for getting an edge over other competing firms, now becoming dollar sucking liabilities for many. New investment in ERP systems, new data bases, new and futuristic technologies are seen as costly affairs and many firms have valid reasons not to do so. For firms who already have legacy IT infrastructure, 70% of their IT investment goes to maintain old servers, desktops, printers, softwares, applications etc. For finance department the most important question to ask, do these investments give good returns?