IT Business Edge contributor Loraine Lawson's recent post on ROI brings to light the fact that IT stays away from it in most situations.

Neil Ward-Dutton, research director at the UK-based Macehiter Ward-Dutton Advisors, said ROI is something people tend to pay attention to before an investment is made, but they don't follow through to see how ROI actually played out.

"ROI is easy to type – it’s just three little letters. That’s why it’s so easy to reference ROI and bandy the term about. The fact that ROI is still a minority sport doesn’t make it less important though – if anything we should all be writing about it and exhorting people to take it seriously more than ever. ...  in the current financial environment, serious focus on ROI is really important.”

Lawson writes in her blog that ignoring the ROI just means you won't know how bad it is until the money's already spent. The Knowledge Network has several documents that help companies address ROI and TCO.

Here are a few:

• TCO Cost Savings Comparison
• Salary Planning Template
• True TCO Calculator
• SaaS vs. On Premise TCO Calculator