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Making A More Effective Business Case for Investing in Software

• Understand the basic questions you need to ask and have answered when evaluating software options

• How to build an effective business case for software investment

• How to identify the most appropriate vendors and implementation partners for your company

Learning Objectives

After attending this event you will be able to:

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© 2014 Ventana Research4 © 2014 Ventana Research

Building a Solid Business Case for Software

InvestmentProformative Webinar

Robert D. Kugel – SVP and Research Director

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Why Companies Decide to Invest

Making a successful business case requires:• Executive sponsorship• Clear value statement• Better value than

competing investments

It helps if it:• Promotes efficiency• Addresses risk and

regulation• Reduces costs

Source: Ventana Research Next Generation Finance Analytics Benchmark

Business Considerations for Investments

(Most or Second Most Important)Executive

sponsorship

Understanding of potential value

Budget required for investment

Shortensactivities and tasks

Audit and regulatory compliance needs

Reducing total cost of ownership (TCO)

Aligns with investment priority

67%

66%

62%

56%

54%

47%

45%

© 2014 Ventana Research6 © 2014 Ventana Research6

Why Companies Decide Not to Invest

It’s all about making a strong case:• Low priority, no budget or

resources all reflect a failure to make a strong enough case.• Lack of awareness –

insufficient depth in making the business case.

Other factors (fewer than one-third citing):• TCO too high, too much

training, too long to deploy• No suitable software (20%)

Source: Ventana Research Finance Analytics Benchmark

Barriers to Investing in Analytics(Six Most Frequently Mentioned)

Lack of resources

No budget

Business case not strong enough

Low priority

Lack of awareness

No executive support

47%

45%

44%

43%

40%

32%

© 2014 Ventana Research7 © 2014 Ventana Research7

Agenda

Before You Get Started

Defining the Project Requirements

Create the Business Plan

Craft the Elevator Pitch

Which Vendor or Partner?

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What do you want to do?

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Analyze the Situation

What are the objectives?• What do you want to accomplish?

• What does your organization want to accomplish?

• What do the executives want to accomplish?

What issues will the project address?• Productivity issues (get better value from skilled people)

• Time issues (not just cost – deadlines and decision loops)

• Quality issues

• Effectiveness issues

• Transparency or visibility

• Responsiveness

• Risk or compliance

• Cost issues (cut payments)

How important are each of these? To whom?

Before You Get Started

© 2014 Ventana Research10 © 2014 Ventana Research10

Analyze the Situation

Who must be involved in creating the business case?

Do you know what’s possible? Do the executives know what’s possible? Can you explain what’s possible to executives?

Do you have executive sponsorship? (Really?)

Do you have a process for identifying the gaps between the current and end states? Do you have a process for determining how to eliminate the gaps?

How important is this initiative to those that must approve it? How do you make it more important to everyone involved?

Do you have a budget? (Really?)

Before You Get Started

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s

Defining Project Requirements

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Making a More Effective Business Casefor Investing in Software