| -link"> | | | | I have included in my guide details of public-domain |
| How can I make the business case for an Intranet, | | | | benefit claims from early UK & US portal |
| or Corporate, Portal? What benefits can I include to | | | | adopters, including British Airways, BP, Ford Motors |
| establish a decent Return on Investment (ROI)? This | | | | Company, IBM, Bell South, Dow, Cisco and BT. |
| article contains some ideas and strategies that might | | | | Showing your Board that others have delivered real |
| help. | | | | benefits lessens the feeling that their decision is a |
| How can I make the business case for an Intranet, | | | | leap of faith’. |
| or Corporate, Portal? What benefits can I include to | | | | 3) Collect Hard Metrics: |
| establish a decent Return on Investment (ROI)? This | | | | Direct benefits may be only 15-25% of your total |
| article contains some ideas and strategies that might | | | | benefits, so work hard to identify savings in Intranet |
| help. | | | | & Collaborative decommissioning; Print, Postage |
| The days of easy money are over | | | | & Distribution Costs, Processing Manpower |
| In these post-dot-com days of the 21st Century, the | | | | reductions; and Third Party expenditure savings. |
| hype attached to IT is well and truly over. The | | | | 4) Use a Comprehensive Time Survey: |
| modern Board is deeply suspicious of large IT | | | | In my guide, I suggest that you survey several |
| projects with questionable benefits and a long-term | | | | hundred (representative) users to establish how |
| payback period. | | | | much time per day they expect to save by using |
| The good news is that a world-class portal | | | | key portal functionality. This will help you to put a |
| implementation has the power to completely | | | | financial value on indirect benefits. I outline 10 sample |
| transform your organisation and touch everyone, | | | | questions and provide benchmark results you could |
| from the office of your CEO to the lady in the | | | | expect to see. |
| canteen. | | | | 5) Build a Wall of Benefits: |
| First a little on Costs | | | | When you are trying to build an ROI based on |
| Sorry, but the cost of the software is only a | | | | indirect benefits, you can expect those benefits to |
| relatively small part of the overall bill; with other | | | | be challenged vigorously. By having literally hundreds |
| major costs in hardware, process change and | | | | of individual line items and a big overall total, you |
| integration activities. Your first (and major) portal | | | | improve your chances of surviving the Finance |
| project is (in terms of cost) more an infrastructure | | | | Red Pen’. In my guide, I outline 101 benefit |
| investment than it is an application. | | | | ideas to get you going. |
| As a rough rule of thumb (for a user base | | | | 6) Link to the Strategic Agenda: |
| >10,000), budget for £250 per desktop to put in | | | | Tie the investment closely to the Strategic Agenda |
| the essentials (including portal and content | | | | of your organisation. If there is another key initiative |
| management solutions). If you are also integrating to | | | | currently grabbing all the attention at board level (e.g. |
| (and exposing) your ERP or CRM systems, add | | | | CRM or ERP) then make sure your portal case |
| £150. | | | | complements, or ideally completes, that strategic |
| Direct Benefits | | | | picture. Use camouflage if necessary, as all is fair in |
| Based on my experience, Direct Benefits (those that | | | | love and war! |
| you can directly bake into line budgets and make an | | | | 7) Identify 2-3 Killer Apps: |
| individual directorate accountable for realising) are only | | | | That will focus the attention (and support) of key |
| 20-25% of the total prize and will not generally cover | | | | sponsors. Look for win-win apps, where the user |
| the portal implementation costs by themselves. Direct | | | | loves using them but the provider department also |
| benefits include reduced printing and distribution | | | | extracts key benefits. For example, a self-service HR |
| costs, decommissioning legacy intranets and FTE | | | | application where the employee can keep their details |
| savings in operational areas (including IT development | | | | up-to-date easily and the company can reduce |
| & support, Finance & Procurement ledger | | | | employee service heads. |
| processing and HR employee services). | | | | 8) Use a Cost Avoidance Argument: |
| Soft Benefits include improved employee satisfaction, | | | | Your investment will reduce future project costs. |
| better communication and corporate belonging, the | | | | After all, a portal is essentially a free infrastructure, a |
| importance of which should not be under-estimated in | | | | free user interface, a free user client with pre-built |
| your business case. After all, there is always an | | | | security & authentication and a free |
| emotional, as well as a rational, reason for every | | | | development framework. HP and others have saved |
| purchasing decision. | | | | up to 20% on development costs, |
| However, the bulk of portal benefits are Indirect | | | | post-implementation. You could too, so raid the |
| Benefits, where time saved in line areas leads to (for | | | | budgets of other approved projects! |
| example) reduced call times in call centres, higher | | | | 9) Consider Larger Scope: |
| sales, faster time to market for new products, | | | | Could you make your case if you include internet and |
| fewer failed projects and so on. Benefits realisation is | | | | extranet in scope? An extranet allows you to |
| the issue with such benefits. After all, you can't fire | | | | securely expose part of your intranet to selected |
| 10 minutes of a person a day! The time they have | | | | third parties, including B2B customers, suppliers, |
| saved is real - ultimately saving cost and driving sales | | | | regulators and government agencies. The incremental |
| - but it cannot be readily tracked to either. | | | | cost is quite low, once your intranet platform is |
| Making the Business Case: A 10 Step Approach | | | | there, but the benefits can be large! |
| In the Business Case chapter of my (free to access) | | | | 10) Use Innovative Phasing: |
| Intranet Portal Guide (see ) I outline a 10 step | | | | Most companies budget on an annual cycle and are |
| approach to making the portal business case. | | | | under huge pressure from investors to deliver |
| 1) Seek External Legitimacy: | | | | short-term profitability. The bitter pill of portal costs |
| Consider using a leading consulting firm to lend weight | | | | might be easier to swallow if you spread the |
| to the business case. They can bring with them | | | | implementation over a two-year period. |
| experience (from having done it before elsewhere), a | | | | ConclusionsMaking the business case for a corporate |
| knowledgebase (of facts and figures about the | | | | Intranet Portal will not be easy. You will need all your |
| benefits other companies have achieved) and a fresh | | | | reserves of patience, cunning and good old-fashioned |
| perspective on your organisation, valued by | | | | hard work. Good luck and don’t forget to |
| executives. | | | | check my guide for more detail, help and tools. |
| 2) Benchmark other Organisations: | | | | |