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Casual Articles - Intranet Portal - Business Case ROI
Treat interviews as a conversation about your experience, and not just an exchange of questions and answers. Be prepared for the interview, do your homework by searching as much as information you can about the company and the position you are applying for (you may not want to ask about the company or opening positions available during an interview). An easy way to find out general information is to visit the company web site if there is one.Dress neat and professional; avoid earrings (for men), piercing, carrying change in your pocket or anything that might be distracting to you or your interviewer. If possible, arrive 15 minutes before your scheduled time; being on time is being early. Stay engaged in the interview and show employers that you are interested in their company. Stay confident and
7) Identify 2-3 Killer Apps
That will focus the attention (and support) of key sponsors. Look for win-win apps, where the user loves using them but the provider department also extracts key benefits. For example, a self-service HR application where the employee can keep their details up-to-date easily and the company can reduce employee service heads.
8) Use a Cost Avoidance Argument
Your investment will reduce future project costs. After all, a portal is essentially a free infrastructure, a free user interface, a free user client with pre-built security & authentication and a free development framework. HP and others have saved up to 20% on development costs, post-implementation. You could too, so raid the budgets of other approved projects!
9) Consider Larger Scope
Could you make your case if you include internet and extranet in scope? An extranet allows you to securely expose part of your
The tight and competitive situation in the market had been an eye opener for business owners to make good on their advertising and promotional strategies. We are all aware that first impression do last - just like with the advertising materials that are handed to us, we judge them by their appearance. Because of this business advertisers were challenged to produce materials that will pass the taste of their clients.It is often said that the materials you provide serves as a mirror or reflection of your business. And since you are aiming to plant a good name in the market it is a must that you come up with an advertising tool that will possess quality and bring satisfaction to your clients.The postcards had been proven to be a very versatile tool used in business promotions and advertising.
In these post-dot-com days of the 21st Century, the hype attached to IT is well and truly over. The modern Board is deeply suspicious of large IT projects with questionable benefits and a long-term payback period.
The good news is that a world-class portal implementation has the power to completely transform your organisation and touch everyone, from the office of your CEO to the lady in the canteen.
First a little on Costs
Sorry, but the cost of the software is only a relatively small part of the overall bill; with other major costs in hardware, process change and integration activities. Your first (and major) portal project is (in terms of cost) more an infrastructure investment than it is an application.
As a rough rule of thumb (for a user base >10,000), budget for ?250 per desktop to put in the essentials (including portal and content management solutions). If you are also integrating to (and exposing) your ERP or CRM systems, add ?150.
Direct Benefits
Based on my experience, Direct Benefits (those that you can directly bake into line budgets and make an individual directorate accountable for realising) are only 20-25% of the total prize and will not generally cover the portal implementation costs by themselves. Direct benefits include reduced printing and distribution costs, decommissioning legacy intranets and FTE savings in operational areas (including IT development & support, Finance & Procurement ledger processing and HR employee services).
Soft Benefits include improved employee satisfaction, better communication and corporate belonging, the importance of which should not be under-estimated in your business case. After all, there is always an emotional, as well as a rational, reason for every purchasing decision.
However, the bulk of portal benefits are Indirect Benefits, where time saved in line areas leads to (for example) reduced call times in call centres, higher sales, faster time to market for new products, fewer failed projects and so on. Benefits realisation is the issue with such benefits. After all, you can't fire 10 minutes of a person a day! The time they have saved is real - ultimately saving cost and driving sales - but it cannot be readily tracked to either.
Making the Business Case: A 10 Step Approach
In the Business Case and ROI chapter of my (free to access) Intranet Portal Guide, I outline a 10 step approach to making the portal business case.
1) Seek External Legitimacy
Consider using a leading consulting firm to lend weight to the business case. They can bring with them experience (from having done it before elsewhere), a knowledgebase (of facts and figures about the benefits other companies have achieved) and a fresh perspective on your organisation, valued by executives.
2) Benchmark other Organisations
I have included in my guide details of public-domain benefit claims from early UK & US portal adopters, including British Airways, BP, Ford Motors Company, IBM, Bell South, Dow, Cisco and BT. Showing your Board that others have delivered real benefits lessens the feeling that their decision is a ‘leap of faith’.
3) Collect Hard Metrics
Direct benefits may be only 15-25% of your total benefits, so work hard to identify savings in Intranet & Collaborative decommissioning; Print, Postage & Distribution Costs, Processing Manpower reductions; and Third Party expenditure savings.
4) Use a Comprehensive Time Survey
In my guide, I suggest that you survey several hundred (representative) users to establish how much time per day they expect to save by using key portal functionality. This will help you to put a financial value on indirect benefits. I outline 10 sample questions and provide benchmark results you could expect to see.
5) Build a Wall of Benefits
When you are trying to build an ROI based on indirect benefits, you can expect those benefits to be challenged vigorously. By having literally hundreds of individual line items and a big overall total, you improve your chances of surviving the Finance ‘Red Pen’. In my guide, I outline 101 benefit ideas to get you going.
6) Link to the Strategic Agenda
Tie the investment closely to the Strategic Agenda of your organisation. If there is another key initiative currently grabbing all the attention at board level (e.g. CRM or ERP) then make sure your portal case complements, or ideally completes, that strategic picture. Use camouflage if necessary, as all is fair in love and war!
7) Identify 2-3 Killer Apps
That will focus the attention (and support) of key sponsors. Look for win-win apps, where the user loves using them but the provider department also extracts key benefits. For example, a self-service HR application where the employee can keep their details up-to-date easily and the company can reduce employee service heads.
8) Use a Cost Avoidance Argument
Your investment will reduce future project costs. After all, a portal is essentially a free infrastructure, a free user interface, a free user client with pre-built security & authentication and a free development framework. HP and others have saved up to 20% on development costs, post-implementation. You could too, so raid the budgets of other approved projects!
9) Consider Larger Scope
Could you make your case if you include internet and extranet in scope? An extranet allows you to securely expose part of your
Listing your goods on large online auctions sites can be an expensive way to sell your products. Also there is a lot of behind the scenes work for example: sourcing your products, emailing customers, packing, trips to the post office etc. You may find that a good percentage of your profits are being eaten up by the auction site fees alone.So why bother to list your items only to pay the big auction sites a high percentage of your profits? To be honest, the only thing that you are paying for is targeted traffic. By targeted traffic we mean web surfers that are actively searching for your product to purchase.So why not just create an online eCommerce store and pay for targeted traffic to reach it? Well, in my opinion most auction buyers believe that they are getting a fantastic bargain if th
Soft Benefits include improved employee satisfaction, better communication and corporate belonging, the importance of which should not be under-estimated in your business case. After all, there is always an emotional, as well as a rational, reason for every purchasing decision.
However, the bulk of portal benefits are Indirect Benefits, where time saved in line areas leads to (for example) reduced call times in call centres, higher sales, faster time to market for new products, fewer failed projects and so on. Benefits realisation is the issue with such benefits. After all, you can't fire 10 minutes of a person a day! The time they have saved is real - ultimately saving cost and driving sales - but it cannot be readily tracked to either.
Making the Business Case: A 10 Step Approach
In the Business Case and ROI chapter of my (free to access) Intranet Portal Guide, I outline a 10 step approach to making the portal business case.
1) Seek External Legitimacy
Consider using a leading consulting firm to lend weight to the business case. They can bring with them experience (from having done it before elsewhere), a knowledgebase (of facts and figures about the benefits other companies have achieved) and a fresh perspective on your organisation, valued by executives.
2) Benchmark other Organisations
I have included in my guide details of public-domain benefit claims from early UK & US portal adopters, including British Airways, BP, Ford Motors Company, IBM, Bell South, Dow, Cisco and BT. Showing your Board that others have delivered real benefits lessens the feeling that their decision is a ‘leap of faith’.
3) Collect Hard Metrics
Direct benefits may be only 15-25% of your total benefits, so work hard to identify savings in Intranet & Collaborative decommissioning; Print, Postage & Distribution Costs, Processing Manpower reductions; and Third Party expenditure savings.
4) Use a Comprehensive Time Survey
In my guide, I suggest that you survey several hundred (representative) users to establish how much time per day they expect to save by using key portal functionality. This will help you to put a financial value on indirect benefits. I outline 10 sample questions and provide benchmark results you could expect to see.
5) Build a Wall of Benefits
When you are trying to build an ROI based on indirect benefits, you can expect those benefits to be challenged vigorously. By having literally hundreds of individual line items and a big overall total, you improve your chances of surviving the Finance ‘Red Pen’. In my guide, I outline 101 benefit ideas to get you going.
6) Link to the Strategic Agenda
Tie the investment closely to the Strategic Agenda of your organisation. If there is another key initiative currently grabbing all the attention at board level (e.g. CRM or ERP) then make sure your portal case complements, or ideally completes, that strategic picture. Use camouflage if necessary, as all is fair in love and war!
7) Identify 2-3 Killer Apps
That will focus the attention (and support) of key sponsors. Look for win-win apps, where the user loves using them but the provider department also extracts key benefits. For example, a self-service HR application where the employee can keep their details up-to-date easily and the company can reduce employee service heads.
8) Use a Cost Avoidance Argument
Your investment will reduce future project costs. After all, a portal is essentially a free infrastructure, a free user interface, a free user client with pre-built security & authentication and a free development framework. HP and others have saved up to 20% on development costs, post-implementation. You could too, so raid the budgets of other approved projects!
9) Consider Larger Scope
Could you make your case if you include internet and extranet in scope? An extranet allows you to securely expose part of your
If you have an existing gift basket business, or are planning to start up a gift basket business or home based gift basket business or just add a sideline to a business you have now, one of the most important things to consider is the type of gift baskets you'll offer.You can offer a wide range of gift baskets, focus on a unique specialty gift basket or do a combination of both. I recommend doing both.For the newbie, start out with a focus on one type of gift basket, and then later add a strong line of gift baskets, after you get your foot in the door. This is often the best approach when you're new. You'll be tying up less money in inventory too.Here are two possible specialty gift baskets to consider. The first is a gift basket for nurses. Make up a demo gift basket. I know market
Making the Business Case: A 10 Step Approach
In the Business Case and ROI chapter of my (free to access) Intranet Portal Guide, I outline a 10 step approach to making the portal business case.
1) Seek External Legitimacy
Consider using a leading consulting firm to lend weight to the business case. They can bring with them experience (from having done it before elsewhere), a knowledgebase (of facts and figures about the benefits other companies have achieved) and a fresh perspective on your organisation, valued by executives.
2) Benchmark other Organisations
I have included in my guide details of public-domain benefit claims from early UK & US portal adopters, including British Airways, BP, Ford Motors Company, IBM, Bell South, Dow, Cisco and BT. Showing your Board that others have delivered real benefits lessens the feeling that their decision is a ‘leap of faith’.
3) Collect Hard Metrics
Direct benefits may be only 15-25% of your total benefits, so work hard to identify savings in Intranet & Collaborative decommissioning; Print, Postage & Distribution Costs, Processing Manpower reductions; and Third Party expenditure savings.
4) Use a Comprehensive Time Survey
In my guide, I suggest that you survey several hundred (representative) users to establish how much time per day they expect to save by using key portal functionality. This will help you to put a financial value on indirect benefits. I outline 10 sample questions and provide benchmark results you could expect to see.
5) Build a Wall of Benefits
When you are trying to build an ROI based on indirect benefits, you can expect those benefits to be challenged vigorously. By having literally hundreds of individual line items and a big overall total, you improve your chances of surviving the Finance ‘Red Pen’. In my guide, I outline 101 benefit ideas to get you going.
6) Link to the Strategic Agenda
Tie the investment closely to the Strategic Agenda of your organisation. If there is another key initiative currently grabbing all the attention at board level (e.g. CRM or ERP) then make sure your portal case complements, or ideally completes, that strategic picture. Use camouflage if necessary, as all is fair in love and war!
7) Identify 2-3 Killer Apps
That will focus the attention (and support) of key sponsors. Look for win-win apps, where the user loves using them but the provider department also extracts key benefits. For example, a self-service HR application where the employee can keep their details up-to-date easily and the company can reduce employee service heads.
8) Use a Cost Avoidance Argument
Your investment will reduce future project costs. After all, a portal is essentially a free infrastructure, a free user interface, a free user client with pre-built security & authentication and a free development framework. HP and others have saved up to 20% on development costs, post-implementation. You could too, so raid the budgets of other approved projects!
9) Consider Larger Scope
Could you make your case if you include internet and extranet in scope? An extranet allows you to securely expose part of your
In Today’s Vent I’d like to talk about emotional business practice. This is a subject in my network of colleagues that unfortunately has become more popular in the recent months.To determine your action by emotion rather than reason will derail you in seconds away from what you should be focused on. When you run your own business or even work for another company as an Independent Contractor your daily activities should square up your pay or rather what you do and how you conduct yourself will determine your paycheck.I network among very bright individuals in the same field; network marketing. I’ve seen an emotional environment filled with negativity that I’m sure has placed us all back a few steps.We are being sized up by the public eye and whether we like to admit this or not, we m
4) Use a Comprehensive Time Survey
In my guide, I suggest that you survey several hundred (representative) users to establish how much time per day they expect to save by using key portal functionality. This will help you to put a financial value on indirect benefits. I outline 10 sample questions and provide benchmark results you could expect to see.
5) Build a Wall of Benefits
When you are trying to build an ROI based on indirect benefits, you can expect those benefits to be challenged vigorously. By having literally hundreds of individual line items and a big overall total, you improve your chances of surviving the Finance ‘Red Pen’. In my guide, I outline 101 benefit ideas to get you going.
6) Link to the Strategic Agenda
Tie the investment closely to the Strategic Agenda of your organisation. If there is another key initiative currently grabbing all the attention at board level (e.g. CRM or ERP) then make sure your portal case complements, or ideally completes, that strategic picture. Use camouflage if necessary, as all is fair in love and war!
7) Identify 2-3 Killer Apps
That will focus the attention (and support) of key sponsors. Look for win-win apps, where the user loves using them but the provider department also extracts key benefits. For example, a self-service HR application where the employee can keep their details up-to-date easily and the company can reduce employee service heads.
8) Use a Cost Avoidance Argument
Your investment will reduce future project costs. After all, a portal is essentially a free infrastructure, a free user interface, a free user client with pre-built security & authentication and a free development framework. HP and others have saved up to 20% on development costs, post-implementation. You could too, so raid the budgets of other approved projects!
9) Consider Larger Scope
Could you make your case if you include internet and extranet in scope? An extranet allows you to securely expose part of your
While blogs are great with search engines, getting to the top 10 listing of a search engine requires some work on your part. Most blogs are hosted on wordpress. The issue with wordpress is with their SEO capabilities. Wordpress Blogs are not search engine optimized out of the box and you will have to spend some time with SEO for your blog.Optimizing your wordpress blog will give you more natural highly targeted traffic to your blog. Below are some of the ways you can optimized your wordpress blog for search engines.1.Permalink Structure Always change the permalink before creating any post. The best permalink structure is“domain.com/category/post-name” Never use the date and month in the middle as the deeper the post are the harder it gets foundat board level (e.g. CRM or ERP) then make sure your portal case complements, or ideally completes, that strategic picture. Use camouflage if necessary, as all is fair in love and war!
7) Identify 2-3 Killer Apps
That will focus the attention (and support) of key sponsors. Look for win-win apps, where the user loves using them but the provider department also extracts key benefits. For example, a self-service HR application where the employee can keep their details up-to-date easily and the company can reduce employee service heads.
8) Use a Cost Avoidance Argument
Your investment will reduce future project costs. After all, a portal is essentially a free infrastructure, a free user interface, a free user client with pre-built security & authentication and a free development framework. HP and others have saved up to 20% on development costs, post-implementation. You could too, so raid the budgets of other approved projects!
9) Consider Larger Scope
Could you make your case if you include internet and extranet in scope? An extranet allows you to securely expose part of your intranet to selected third parties, including B2B customers, suppliers, regulators and government agencies. The incremental cost is quite low, once your intranet platform is there, but the benefits can be large!
10) Use Innovative Phasing
Most companies budget on an annual cycle and are under huge pressure from investors to deliver short-term profitability. The bitter pill of portal costs might be easier to swallow if you spread the implementation over a two-year period.
Conclusions
Making the business case for a corporate Intranet Portal will not be easy. You will need all your reserves of patience, cunning and good old-fashioned hard work. Good luck and don’t forget to check my guide for more detail, help and tools.
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