A New Approach to Maximizing Returns on IT Investments

A typical business case projects the return on an investment by estimating the average expected return. Then, if a pilot is shown to capture results that match the average anticipated returns, management accepts the results as satisfactory and the project moves ahead to full roll-out.

What is missing? A detailed analysis of the dispersion of actual results compared to the average. How high are the high-performers? How low are the under-performers? Why are the high-performers doing well and the low-performers doing poorly?

Investigation of these specific pilot results can uncover approaches to fine-tune the implementation such that most results approach those of the high-performers and virtually all under-performers are eliminated. This raises the average performance well above the results estimated in the business case.

In all the work we perform for our clients, this analysis yields the most dramatic results. By doing a deep investigation of the pilot rollout, the original business case, and other factors surrounding the implementation, we’ve taken projects from unprofitable (falling way below the business case estimates) to highly profitable (sometimes many times in excess of the projected benefits). So, if you want to maximize the benefits on your IT projects, you’ll find the devil, and the big dollars, in the details.