Measuring and quantifying something that a lot of IT folks probably already suspected, the BPM Forum this morning released a study stating that most enterprises are not capable of accurately determining the value of application investments. The report, titled Software Drain or Business Gain: Assessing Application Value, Relevance and Cost to Your Company, also found: * 64 percent of respondents admit that they are not able to benchmark the value of their software investments * Nearly half of all respondents give their company low marks for the way IT spending is aligned with strategic priorities and business needs * 40.2 percent conduct company-wide software audits only on an “as-needed ba-sis”* 13.4 percent never conduct company-wide software audits at all Respondents indicated that the most important factors in determining the relevance of an application are how essential it is to operations, how it improves productivity, and competitive advantage, respectively. With those in mind, e-mail won the crown as the most business-critical software, while finance and accounting and CRM followed. The report, co-sponsored by InfoWorld, will be available online today at the BPM Forum’s Web site, a spokesperson told me. Technology Industry