This week one of our client deliverables included an intranet business case for a major electrical utility. The bottom line: the intranet needs to prove its value before more money is spent. However, a business case is more than just dollars, cents and return on investment (ROI).
Building a business case involves taking stock of the current state, defining an ultimate business goal, and putting in place mechanisms to measure the success and benefit of achieving the organization’s goals.
To measure dollar value and ROI, initial baseline measurements are taken for defined criteria, which then allows for comparisons and gauging success at a future point (6-12 months out is standard). Prescient has in fact identified more than 140 specific line item benefits for measuring intranet ROI (more on intranet ROI). Some of these benefits include:
- Software distribution – self-service downloads that save the IT department time and cost
And while companies like Cisco, IBM and Oracle triumphantly state many millions of dollars saved (and in some cases, dollars earned) as a result of their intranet, you don’t have to be a big fish to garner measurable ROI.
We recently worked with an investment firm of only 750 employees and found more than an estimated $1.5 million in annual value derived from the intranet (both hard and soft benefits).
Despite the potential reward, more of our clients are asking about ROI, but a Prescient Digital Media study showed that fewer than 6% of more than 240 companies surveyed actually measure specific dollar and cent benefits derived from the intranet.
To measure and increase the value of your intranet, please dowload the free white paper, Finding ROI.
