Professor Marco Iansiti of the Harvard Business School has found that it is best to review productivity for technology within business processes. He believes that previous measures have focused either at too high a level or on individual examples. Or, firms have taken a mathematical approach to show impact, measuring capital investment in IT versus business performance.

In one study on the impact of IT on global mid-size companies, Iansiti's team took 40 business functions or "scenarios" where technology can be seen and reviewed in action. Mobile and remote access to information and processes was one aspect of this. The scenarios covered technology in use in five key functional areas: sales and marketing, finance, operations, "empowered professionals", and IT infrastructure.