A while ago there was a lot of research on the impact of computers on productivity which said that it was negligible.
Thomas Landauer of Bell laboratories said that companies expenditure on new technology was essentially wasteful: 'computers have been consumer products not capital good'. That means the computer on the desk is more likely to be absorbing employees' time playing minesweeper or solitaire than doing forward accounts.
Landauer is quoted in James Woudhuysen's excellent pamphlet on the subject, Cult IT, published by the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London. According to Woudhuysen contemporary management theory uses IT to redefine business as play - not something that is likely have a positive impact upon your bottom line. -- Jim heartfield