Even when the need for new or upgraded technology in your contact center or elsewhere across your organization may seem obvious to you or your department, the real challenge lies in justifying the investment. To win the support of the people who have the authority to give your project the green light — namely, executive management — it is essential to build a compelling business case behind the proposed technology investment.
Building a strong business case may be time-consuming, and at times tedious, but it is a necessary step that can prevent major problems down the road, such as not completing the project within budget or not delivering the desired results.
So, how do you build a bulletproof business case for a new technology investment? The overarching objective should be to clearly define the goal and business benefits associated with the investment. This is where most projects fail — they fall short with a sub-standard business case that neglects to provide a thorough analysis of costs and benefits as measured against the goal.
According to a recent Forrester Research report — The Balanced Scorecard for IT: Value Metrics — almost all senior management discussion of information technology (IT) includes the subject of IT value. IT value needs to be synonymous with business value. IT exists for the purpose of supporting and, now more frequently, enabling business. Its value is therefore indistinguishable from the value that business receives from it.1
A strong business case for an IT investment puts that investment decision into a strategic context. Think of the business case not as an IT proposal, but as a business proposal that will provide management with the necessary information to make an educated decision. Without this approach, it is unlikely that executive management will agree to fund the project.
Components of a Strong Business Case
Following are the components that should be included when building your business case:
- Start by identifying the project drivers — in short, know the reasons for the project. Ask basic questions such as, “What are the overall business goals?” From there, ask related questions about the business unit, down to the departmental level. Answers will lead to the numbers needed to justify your proposal, such as in the case of contact center products — “Increase revenue by X% in this business unit,” or “Reduce call handling times by Y seconds per call, or Z% per year.”
- Define the scope of the proposed project and define elements such as duration, depth and cost, as well as, the key objectives that will be achieved with the implementation. These elements should answer the question, “What are the pay-offs for this project?” More specifically:
- Will it lower total cost of ownership (TCO)?
- Will it lower the cost of acquiring customers and ultimately increase customer satisfaction and retention?
- Will it improve employee productivity?
- How will this impact our bottom line?
- What is the timeline for ROI?
Don’t get caught up in the technical details before these questions are answered.
- Include a timeline or an approximate schedule for reaching milestones. No project will be given a green light without time estimates attached to it.
- Assess and address any potential risks. This will demonstrate to executive management that you have considered this project from all angles and that there are strategies in place to overcome any potential challenges.
- Explore and outline a short list of viable alternatives to the proposed project. This will give the proposal credibility and prevent additional work if the management team asks for other options to consider.
- Provide measurements or metrics by which the project can be judged to be successful. This illustrates the level of accountability that executive management will be looking for.
- Build a team that comprises people from across the organization to help build the business case. One of the most common mistakes is composing a team that will be too IT-focused and not consider the big-picture implications. Since many levels and departments will be impacted by the proposed new technology implementation, it makes sense to include representatives from each group in the creation of the business case.
While the overall objective of building the business case is to justify the investment, it also serves the important purpose of setting a collaborative tone for the project and getting all parties on the same page and working toward a common goal.
1 Forrester Research, The Balanced Scorecard for IT: Value Metrics by Craig Symons, November 15, 2004
Ralph Breslauer, Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing
With more than 20 years of enterprise software experience, Ralph Breslauer serves as Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing at Aspect Software. He joined the company in January 2002 and currently leads the company’s global sales force in its mission to help our customers build the desired relationships with their customers around the critical business processes of customer service, collections, and sales and telemarketing. In addition, he heads the strategic development and execution of the company’s aggressive branding and marketing efforts.
Prior to Aspect Software, Ralph was Senior Vice President of Worldwide Field Operations for eRoom Technology, a leading provider of Web-based collaboration software. Previously, he was Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Informix Software’s $700 million TransAct Business Group.
For additional information about Aspect Software and its products, visit www.aspect.com.
