Making the business case for new - or old - money
Many colleagues over the years have shared comments to the overall effect of "there is general agreement that it is desirable to do well in the area of information and knowledge management … but there is reluctance to commit significant funds". Such a sentiment is not surprising given how difficult it is to prove a concrete return on investment when expenditures are made for information content, services, or activity. In "Business Cases for Info Pros: Here's Why, Here's How" (http://books.infotoday.com/books/BusinessCasesforInfoPros.shtml) I provide guidelines for constructing the arguments in favor of information related investments - and naturally, I would love to hear from anyone who adopted them! The excerpt shown below (numbered as in the other checklists) illustrates situations where the normal submission instruments used in an organization's budget cycle probably won't cut it:
Some investments - for example, replacing aging or failing technical infrastructure - justify themselves because the negative consequences of not investing are obvious. Whenever something new is contemplated that is not in the category of "must do - or else", business case documents are called for. These generic examples reflect common organizational scenarios familiar to information professionals:
7a. Due to a significant number of employees taking early retirement, there is a shortage of corporate memory. Business teams have found themselves repeating earlier work because lessons learned from previous efforts were not identified in a timely manner. We need a strategy and a tool or system for capturing key information objects produced in the course of the organization's work.
7b. Due to the fact that the organization's business teams are spread over multiple locations or different floors, the teams sometimes arrive independently at similar project ideas and miss out on potential synergy. We need a reliable mechanism for ensuring each team knows what the others are planning - without adding to the information overload everyone is already experiencing.
7c. Over time, as reliance on email and rapid electronic exchange of document drafts has grown, proliferation of files has become a major problem. Thousands of files crowd shared drives, and there are loud complaints that "we can't find the documents we need - and if we do find a document, we can't be sure it is the final official version". Everyone's time is wasted as individuals send out blanket "does anyone have a copy of" requests. We need a policy and a convenient repository where official copies of non-trivial documents are safeguarded and searchable.
7d. The Intranet was simple and easy to navigate when it was first rolled out years ago. By now, it is widely regarded as a frustrating experience because its original structure has been compromised through ad hoc development. We need a complete redesign - with a view to sustainability of structure.
7e. The customer service agents are without a "bible" of official information they can give to customers with confidence. As a result, each customer interaction takes much longer than it ought to take, and the agents are saying they don't feel certain they are giving out the best information. We need a central database of "correct answers" for the agents to consult as they deal with callers - along with a mechanism for updating it when new information becomes available or when agents discover new, useful insights.
7f. As the organization's business emphasis has shifted and as new end user oriented tools are readily available on the internet, a new assessment is needed as to what information should be purchased and licensed. We need an audit of the current practices and of knowledge workers' actual needs so that we may plan and fund an appropriate information support strategy.
But ... could full blown business cases be necessary even when the request is "only" for an additional position or part time assistance -- or indeed for NOT reducing the budget for information related activity? Most certainly. Giving decision makers insight into the reasons for and benefits of investment is a business requirement - and the process of preparing a business case offers an opportunity to think in business terms about every activity currently being funded (for example, could existing budgets be shifted from current to new efforts?).
Next in the series: The Intranet
Comments