Business case essentials
A business case is an argument. It argues the value of your technology, whether a product, service, solution, or project. It is the key document in selling technology. You have to show the benefits of your proposal outweigh its costs. This is the only economically rational way to make a technology spending decision -- or any major decision.
Like a a good legal case, an outstanding business case should be:
- Based on an unifying principle. For technology, this is its financial value: how much benefits outweigh costs, translated into cash.
- Complete. Include all the key points to make your argument, but no more. Avoid partial arguments. An ROI calculation without context on the business problem, a risk analysis, or an execution plan is only part of an answer.
- Fact-based. A common charge against business cases is they are unbelievable. A believable business case is reliable and does not shade reality. Business case writers should make logical, realistic arguments backed by facts or well-researched assumptions. Be balanced: everybody knows there is another alternative.
- Concise. Long writing means lazy thinking. As Mark Twain said, "I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” More words means more work to read and increases the risk of misunderstanding.
To help you write outstanding business cases, we offer:
Business case reference pages
Provoked by experience in writing over 100 business cases and the mediocrity of existing business case books, this article lays out a 10-step approach to writing a business case. It's the framework for The Three-Page Business Case book. Now three pages seem short, but if you think hard enough and edit strictly, it's enough. And senior management love its boiled-down, concise, argument. It will make you stand out.
12 due diligence questions for any IT investment
Frustrated by repetitive debates about how to decide whether a technology investment is good or not (due diligence), I spent six months researching the issue, distilling my experience, and wrote this checklist. Checklists work wonders in medicine and aviation and fit well with our emphasis on combining rigor with brevity. Paying $24 for the digital edition or $36 for the physical book on Amazon represents tremendous value compared to its potential to screen out lousy IT investments. And that's before thinking about all the time it will save you.
The IT due diligence report: Stop blowing billions
Still some taboo to discussing how badly technology investments typically perform, which was not helped by silly commentary about IT not mattering.
More is invested in technology each year than hedge funds and venture capital combined, so, it clearly does matter. Around the world, corporate managers spend a trillion-and-a-half dollars a year on technology, including hardware, software, and services. Yet 70% of projects fail to deliver any financial return, according to the Standish Group.
This article points to the causes of this lost ROI.
Business case articles
Here are our views on the business of technology value, specifically, on the business case and ROI industries. We are skeptical of the ROI industry. It has encouraged adoption of a simplistic ROI measure, which puts IT investments in peril and ignores fundamental financial principles. We also serve up antidotes, such as, how to sell technology in a recession.
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