Different studies confirm that the presence of IT in firms, together with human and other organizational resources, has a positive influence on the performance of organizations. However, the details of the process through which that influence is produced have not been clarified. This study is based on an extensive IT data base corresponding to a sample of universities and presents an IT-technological performance value chain and confirms the hypotheses about its functioning. The result is a value chain that begins with the IT planning, passes through different components related to technology in organizations and ends with the performance of the technology. We believe that this research is useful to higher education institutions managers by allowing them to have a clear path on how to improve the return of IT investments.