4 Steps to an Effective Enterprise Information Management Business CaseThe basis of a credible business case is relevant, organization-specific data on the costs, volumes and other metrics around your current business processes...Use your own internal data if you can get it...Also use industry benchmark data. Many organizations don't compile these metrics. The data simply doesn't exist. And even if it does exist, you might not have a relative comparison of the severity of the issue. We recommend using a hybrid approach to data that uses not only internal organizational data, but also industry benchmark data, and compares the two.Richard MedinaRD_67ad407b-b191-11e6-9986-d61b9f0319fd_67ad407c-b191-11e6-9986-d61b9f0319fdTo present the fundamentals for providing an effective business case for enterprise information management._67ad40c0-b191-11e6-9986-d61b9f0319fdROIThe most critical piece of the business case is calculating an ROI and then communicating it to executives in sophisticated yet easy to understand visual and interactive models.CommunicationAnalysisA business case should always be able to present "what-if" analysis, showing causes and effects resulting from changes in assumptions.SimplicityThe business case should be simple enough to review in a few minutes with an executive audience, but still display the robustness of the analysis.RobustnessInitiativesDistinguish between targeted and infrastructure initiatives._67ad49ee-b191-11e6-9986-d61b9f0319fd1Targeted initiatives are EIM projects designed to address specific business problems or areas of EIM functionality. Infrastructure initiatives are projects that affect the entire enterprise.The significance of the demarcation that contrasts targeted initiatives -- whether industry-specific or cross-industry -- with infrastructure-related initiatives, is that the sources of funding tend to be different. An organization’s stage of maturity within the EIM lifecycle at a given point in time may dictate which approach you should take.When putting together a business case, you should consider your approach based on the organizational culture, the appetite for spend, the maturity level of EIM, and the enterprise's overall familiarity with the potential value that EIM can bring. While an infrastructure investment makes a lot of sense in certain instances, other organizations find a targeted initiative a more favorable approach, given their funding constraints. In still other organizations, proving out targeted value might be the first step toward justification of infrastructure-related spend for EIM._67ad4be2-b191-11e6-9986-d61b9f0319fdBenefitsDetermine which types of benefits align most closely with your business goals._67ad4ebc-b191-11e6-9986-d61b9f0319fd2Ask yourself: Which types of benefits align most closely with my organization's corporate business goals?These are the benefits that are most likely to get the attention of executive management. Evaluate your proposed initiatives by how well they fit your organization's business priorities, and prioritize and present them accordingly. Here's a partial list:RevenueIncrease revenues._67ad5d1c-b191-11e6-9986-d61b9f0319fd2.1Example: customer communications technologies that integrate with line of business systems, allowing for cross-selling and up-selling to existing customers.Risk Mitigation/ComplianceImprove the organization's ability to reduce corporate risk or facilitate its ability to comply with regulations._67ad5d1d-b191-11e6-9986-d61b9f0319fd2.2Example: records management technologies that make it easier to manage discovery-related information in the event of litigation.Cost ReductionDecrease the costs of business processes._67ad603c-b191-11e6-9986-d61b9f0319fd2.3Example: imaging and e-forms technologies to reduce the amount of paper in business processes.Business ContinuityImprove the organization's ability to ensure that mission-critical functions and services can continue uninterrupted during and after a disaster._67ad603d-b191-11e6-9986-d61b9f0319fd2.4Example: imaging technologies and mirroring of repositories to ensure up-to-date copies of business-critical documentation and data are maintained in geographically dispersed locations.TypesConsider the various types of business cases._67ad603e-b191-11e6-9986-d61b9f0319fd3There are different circumstances in which each type of business case is appropriate. Your approach may be one or a combination of the models. Your goal here is to create defensible scenarios to demonstrate how your proposed initiative will provide quantifiable ROI, not just an enumeration of the soft benefits.Top-DownHighlight macro-level EIM benefits at an enterprise level. _67ad662c-b191-11e6-9986-d61b9f0319fd3.1A top-down business case is typically an organization-wide business case that highlights macro-level EIM benefits at an enterprise level. These tend to be credible only for hourly wage/variable capacity types of workers, where capacity planning can be directly affected with even minor efficiency gains. (Example: Making information more easily accessible to customer service reps in call centers throughout the organization, thereby reducing time required to service calls.)Bottom-UpAddress EIM usage patterns that tend to recur in many areas._67ad68d4-b191-11e6-9986-d61b9f0319fd3.2Knowledge WorkersProcess WorkersThis is generally a more credible and more successful approach. It tends to be more precise for knowledge workers and also works rather well on the process worker-related activities and tasks, where certain patterns tend to recur in many areas. Not only can a particular line of business benefit from a process-level drilldown, but those same EIM usage patterns can be applied to other processes with similar characteristics. (Example: New Account Origination optimization through imaging, e-forms and workflow, which presents usage patterns similar to Retail Mortgage Processing.)ReallocativeFocus on reducing costs from one area and allocating the savings to another area._67ad68d5-b191-11e6-9986-d61b9f0319fd3.3Example: Suppressing print for customer communications and reallocating those savings for modernizing the personalization platform for electronic customer communications.RetrospectiveFocus on analysis of a particular event or scenario and demonstrates how the outcome would have been different if EIM technology were in place._67ad68d6-b191-11e6-9986-d61b9f0319fd3.4Example: an instance of litigation discovery, showing the actual costs of the discovery event and the cost reductions with EIM technologies in place.EmbeddedFocus on demonstrating the ability of EIM to enable an existing and already funded initiative, where EIM acts as an enabler for the in-flight effort._67ad68d7-b191-11e6-9986-d61b9f0319fd3.5Example: Using the document management and records management capability sets of EIM to enable archiving for an ERP initiative that is already funded and underwayReformativeHighlight the structural, business model-related or highly strategic changes that require aspects of EIM in the critical path._67ad68d8-b191-11e6-9986-d61b9f0319fd3.6Example: A business model, such as outsourcing, that the organization seeks to pursue, where EIM technologies such as digitization and process automation are prerequisites for undertaking a distributed sourcing environment.CreationCreate the Business Case_67ad68d9-b191-11e6-9986-d61b9f0319fd4When you put the above pieces together into a process that you can actually execute and end up with a convincing business case, it looks something like this:DefinitionDefine the Criteria._67ad6f64-b191-11e6-9986-d61b9f0319fd4.1Ask: which benefit type(s) align most closely with my organization’s corporate business goals? These are the benefits that are most likely to get the attention of executive management, whether they are one, or a ranked combination of, revenue lift, risk mitigation/ compliance, cost reduction, business continuity or something else.PrioritizationPrioritize the Processes._67ad6f65-b191-11e6-9986-d61b9f0319fd4.2Evaluate the most promising of your existing business processes for potential benefit from EIM. Assess the potential impact of EIM on each business process and rank those processes, using your defined evaluation criteria. Evaluate your proposed initiatives by how well they fit your organization’s business priorities, then rank and present them accordingly.StatusDepict the Current State._67ad6f66-b191-11e6-9986-d61b9f0319fd4.3Create a view of the current process, applying current state metrics and facts. Include data specific to your organization (costs, volumes). Supplement with industry benchmark data in areas where your own data is incomplete. Where possible, also include an analytic/heuristic model that shows how other organizations in your industry approach the process.ProjectionProject the Future State._67ad72ca-b191-11e6-9986-d61b9f0319fd4.4Develop a view of the desired future state with estimates of the improvements enabled by the deployment of EIM technologies. Use industry benchmark data to project the costs of the future state.QuantificationQuantify the Benefits._67ad72cb-b191-11e6-9986-d61b9f0319fd4.5For each process, aggregate and analyze the hard and soft benefits in terms of your chosen criteria (revenue lift, risk mitigation/ compliance, cost reduction, business continuity).Communication & SocializationDevelop an effective communications model and socialize it with the executive team._67ad72cc-b191-11e6-9986-d61b9f0319fd4.6Don't blow it after doing all the work. This is the step where you get or lose executive buy-in... If possible, create an interactive visualization of the business case to communicate the business case graphically, in a succinct, easily understood format. Make it “elegant, efficient, and accurate”, the criteria for great infographics.2014-01-152016-11-23http://www.cmswire.com/cms/information-management/4-steps-to-an-effective-enterprise-information-management-business-case-023774.phpOwenAmburOwen.Ambur@verizon.net