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Building the business case and roadmap for transformation

February 27, 2020

In the digital era, CIOs of large enterprises face a fundamental dilemma: they must both perform – increase operational excellence, reduce costs, and make existing systems faster – and transform – move the company to digital business models, enhance the customer experience, enable always-on innovation, and become more agile. Making the shift from IT that just drives down costs to IT that also drives business value is what separates the leaders from the laggards in the digital world.

But bridging the digital divide to perform and transform at the same time can be a challenge for many organizations, particularly those with large legacy estates. So how do they get to a place where they can do both? It all starts with a solid plan.

These are the fundamental components of a well-founded plan for both performing and transforming in a digital era:

Decision framework. A decision framework includes the organizational strategy, vision, and guiding principles to drive the decision-making process and provide parameters for how IT will engage with the business. For example, as an organization shifts towards agile and decides whether to be product-driven or services-driven, a decision framework will lay out the implications of the selected choice.

Assessment. An assessment provides an in-depth understanding of the current state and forms the basis for a business case and roadmap. An assessment should include analyses across multiple dimensions, including application portfolio, infrastructure, costs, cloud and digital readiness, and resource allocation. It looks across domains and business processes to identify what to eliminate, consolidate, modernize, replace, or remove, as well as where to invest in the future.

Execution roadmap. An execution roadmap prioritizes initiatives like application modernization, cloud, automation, DevOps, and RPA by considering timelines, costs, and findings of the assessment phase.

Business case. The business case includes the financial rationale behind a transformation, including expected cost to achieve, savings, and returns. It provides a forecast for return on investment and connects IT changes to business KPIs that ensure ongoing project funding.

Change-management strategy. A change-management strategy plans for the organizational shifts needed to support technological change. It should include a target operating model that includes the make-up of the new organization, required skills, and roles and responsibilities.

Because various components are required to create a well-structured plan, the strategy phase is critical to any transformation program. This will include a combination of workshops, interviews, assessments, analyses, and meetings to gain alignment across the organization. By aligning principles, understanding the IT enterprise from bottom-up, and building an initiative roadmap, the organization is able to manage and track transformation at an intentional program level to drive efficiency.

As you’re building the plan, there are a few important factors to keep in mind. First, develop a current-state cost model. Many IT organizations don’t have visibility into how much their applications cost per year but, before embarking on a major transformation initiative, it’s imperative to understand the cost per year in order to be able to show return on investment later on down the line. It’s also critical to have a sense of the future-state hardware and software costs based on the solution proposed. To accompany this, you should also understand forecasted revenue bumps as a result of these transformative changes across both business and IT dimensions. This will help build the case for short-term and long-term investment.

It’s also important that IT organizations not overlook the organizational aspects of change. IT transformation projects aren’t just about technology; they’re also about people, processes, and culture. IT leaders need to think about the skill sets they need and how existing skills are going to change to support the future. You’ll need a plan for upskilling existing

Jennifer Marchand leads the digital and cloud transformation strategy practice within Capgemini North America. For more information about how to harness the power of cloud and application technologies to make digital business a reality.

Jennifer Marchand

Expert in business architecture, business case development, cloud migrations, cloud strategy, paas.

I am an engagement delivery lead with extensive experience delivering cloud platforms and scaling cross functional teams. I have 14 years of business and technology consulting experience with Capgemini. I work closely with business executives to deliver cloud strategies, cloud migration business cases, cloud migration planning and roadmaps, custom software business architecture and design, application modernization and cloud re-platforming. I am the North American lead for eAPM , Capgemini’s unique decision-making framework helping our clients answering tough questions about their portfolio modernization strategy.  

Building an ERP Business Case: How-To & Template

Because ERP consolidates and automates critical business processes like accounting, inventory management, HR, CRM, financial planning and more, implementing it is both an exciting and serious undertaking that takes time and resources to accomplish effectively.

Most organizations considering an ERP implementation must therefore build an ERP business case that goes beyond outlining pain points and into the overarching benefits of an ERP . The business case details and formally presents the costs and benefits of such an implementation, along with the opportunities and risks—and we’ll outline that process for you here.

If your company is not yet enjoying the benefits of a modern ERP, the first step is to build a business case that illustrates the benefits, costs, opportunities and risks of launching an implementation project. By breaking down data silos, ERP connects the dots on business processes including accounting, operations, manufacturing, sales and HR; enables better FP&A and reporting; and adds efficiencies through automation technology.

A tailored ERP business case enables any organization to evaluate its specific benefits, costs and risks. The document may also serve as the basis of an ERP implementation plan because it provides the project team with clear direction on priorities and responsibilities.

Goals of Implementing ERP

Organizations typically decide to implement or upgrade an outdated ERP system because they need to solve problems caused by using a patchwork of different applications for different business processes such as finance, supply chain management and warehouse management. Pain points include dwindling productivity, an inability to provide insights into business growth, expensive inaccuracies and problems meeting customer expectations.

If business leaders can’t take advantage of market opportunities because they’re operating with information they can’t trust, can’t effectively use or both, that’s a sign you need to consider buying an ERP.

ERP systems can help solve these problems by providing an integrated suite of applications that share common data. Typical goals of implementing ERP include:

• Increased productivity: Because the system integrates information and processes across multiple departments, like finance, HR, sales and operations, employees can do more work and complete processes faster.
• Reduced cost: Especially when delivered as software-as-a-servce (SaaS), ERP systems automate manual processes and eliminate the need to transfer data between systems, reducing cost.
• Enhanced decision-making: Managers can get a clearer, more up-to-date view of information across the business, helping them better analyze trends and anticipate customer needs.
• Higher customer satisfaction: Product-oriented organizations can better manage their supply chains to deliver customer orders on time with fewer errors and more easily track information across the entire order fulfillment process to support a better customer experience.

Why Build an ERP Business Case?

Implementing an ERP system typically requires a significant investment in data migration, change management and leader buy-in over three to four months of effort. Furthermore, the system will change the way that people do their jobs across the organization. Before implementing an ERP , leaders and departmental stakeholders need to be convinced that the effort is justified—particularly since some of the people expected to use the system will likely resist the change.

Building a business case for ERP solves that challenge. It gives the organization’s stakeholders a tool for measuring the value that the system will deliver, so they can weigh that value against the costs and risks. It presents a variety of ERP use cases, describes exactly why the organization needs an ERP and the specific business benefits that the organization may expect.

For example, a business case may pinpoint the inefficiencies in order processing and fulfillment, show how the ERP system will improve those processes and estimate the business value of those improvements. That value can include both tangible benefits, such as cost reductions or the ability to handle more orders without hiring more staff, and intangible—but sometimes equally important—benefits such as higher customer satisfaction.

How to Build a Business Case

When an organization starts seriously investigating whether to implement an ERP, it generally sets up a project team that includes an executive sponsor—the CEO, CFO or other senior manager. One of the project team’s first jobs is to build an ERP business case.

Often, the team enlists the help of an external consultant who can provide a fresh perspective and has the expertise to build an ERP requirements checklist to analyze how the system may help the business.

This isn’t just a PowerPoint you throw together, but a thorough, numbers-based detailed analysis that is a process of documenting all of the benefits (both tangible and intangible), putting KPIs behind it all and weighing the benefits of ERP against the costs . The focus is detail how the investment will deliver true business value—why the project is needed and what benefits it will offer when finished.

7 Steps to Building an ERP Business Case

The process of building a business case generally includes at least seven major steps:

Identify and analyze current issues

• Assess the benefits of ERP
• Evaluate ERP options

Estimate project costs

• Determine ROI

Identify implementation risks

• Create a high-level ERP implementation plan

The first step is to analyze the specific problems that the organization wants to solve, measuring the business impact of those problems wherever possible and analyzing the processes that cause those issues.

Typical issues include:

Costly process inefficiencies: Many organizations have processes that involve time-consuming, error-prone manual steps. Employees may have to reenter customer data into different systems, or manually extract order information from an online sales system and transfer it to another system for processing and fulfillment. It’s often possible to quantify how much these processes cost and to use benchmarking information to compare your costs with those of other organizations. One local government found that its accounts payable staff, for example, was processing less than half as many invoices, on average, as comparable organizations. A pharmaceutical repackaging company found that the need to reenter data into multiple systems resulted in error rates of 15% to 25% —and as a result, it had to employ staff whose sole function was to check data accuracy.

Obstacles to growth: Business growth may be pushing current systems beyond their limits by requiring that you add more users, transactions or data than the tools can handle. An over-reliance on manual processes may limit your ability to grow without forcing costly finance hires before the company really needs that expertise. Or, you may need more sophisticated capabilities as your business grows globally—for example, the volume and complexity of sales data may expand to the point where it’s almost impossible to analyze using spreadsheets.

Inability to meet customer expectations: Is the organization continually missing deadlines or shipment dates? Are orders frequently inaccurate, are there service disruptions? Resolving customer services issues such as order status and processing inquiries faster will avoid customer displeasure and may even reduce churn.

Lack of real-time data for decision-making: As the business grows and becomes more complex, it often becomes more difficult to find out what’s happening across the organization in real time. While up-to-the-minute views are often necessary to enable managers to make decisions that help the business thrive, the data that managers need may be buried within various sales force automation, CRM, project management, inventory management, supply chain , human resource and customer service systems. People may spend more time trying to find data than analyzing it and making decisions.

Cost of existing systems: A business case should factor in the current cost of operating the multiple systems that will be replaced by ERP—including the cost of any technology staff as well as product licensing, IT infrastructure—such as servers, switches, routers, networks, etc.—and support.

Analyze the benefits of ERP

Next, the organization begins building a list of achievable goals for the ERP implementation.

At least initially, the list may be broad, but aim to address the main pain points identified in the previous step. Reexamine each pain point to analyze how the ERP system will address the issue, then define realistic goals.

To illustrate, consider a manufacturing company that has an inefficient raw materials purchasing process, which is becoming increasingly unmanageable as the business grows. Purchasing agents work with each supplier on contracts then create purchase orders and get internal approvals—all of which are manual processes.

An ERP expert hired by the company determines that the manufacturing plant is operating below capacity in part because the purchasing function is a bottleneck. The consultant uses their knowledge of ERP and the company’s operations to show how, by implementing ERP, the company could redeploy or avoid adding purchasing staff while increasing manufacturing output, enabling the company to grow total sales revenue.

The consultant estimates the reductions in staff costs that can be achieved by automating the purchasing processes, as well as the additional potential revenue due to better utilization of manufacturing capacity. Both of these benefits become part of the business case, and the consultant moves on to examine the next process issue.

A best practice is to ensure that goals are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-based—generally condensed to the acronym “SMART.”

Examples of high-level SMART goals could include:

• Reduce manufacturing defects by 20% this year.
• Reduce inaccurate orders by 25% within six months of ERP implementation.
• Increase the number of invoices processed per employee by 35% by August 1.

The types of benefits that companies realize by implementing ERP typically include:

Greater efficiency and productivity: The transition to ERP typically enables organizations to automate manual steps and eliminate the need to enter data, providing measurable reductions in the time needed for processes. The resulting improvements in productivity can also enable the organization to handle business growth without hiring more staff.

Optimized inventory levels: ERP systems give the organization a clear view across the supply chain, facilitating better demand forecasting and helping the organization optimize inventory. That can reduce inventory costs while ensuring the company can meet demand in a timely way, keeping customers happy.

Better cash flow: More efficient invoicing can help ensure faster payment, so the company has more cash available rather than tied up in receivables.

Improved customer service: With better visibility into customer information and orders, the organization can respond more quickly to customer requests and solve problems more easily.

Higher employee retention: With more processes automated, employees find their jobs to be easier and are more likely to stay with company.

Better workforce management: With a centralized data model, ERP systems can connect employee performance to business performance giving decision makers better insights on how to plan and manage the workforce.

Better decision-making: Managers have access to more complete data from across the business in real time, gathering data from sales, HR, financial and inventory. Executives can use this information to make more informed decisions and take advantage of new opportunities.

For example, with ERP, the CFO may have access to financial reports in a fraction of the time that would be required to extract and combine information from multiple systems. This also frees the CFO to spend more time on financial forecasting, finding areas for savings, producing better KPIs and other strategic activities.

Revenue and profitability: Greater productivity, accelerated processes and better relations with customers drive revenue and profitability.

Evaluate ERP solutions

If you haven’t already begun evaluating specific ERP solutions, now is a good time to start. The analysis of current issues and desired benefits should give the organization a clear picture of the ERP modules and specific features that it needs. As with any important business decision, start by clarifying your goals and expectations to help you choose your ERP , and involve key stakeholders who have the most to gain from a successful implementation (and the most to lose if there are problems). Once you have an ERP implementation team, identify the offerings that might be appropriate for your business.

You have a wide variety of ERP solutions to choose from. They include cloud-based ERP systems , which you access over the internet and generally pay for on a subscription basis. There are also on-premises systems that an organization installs in its own data center and manages itself. Hybrid ERP is also a possibility.

Because organizations typically rely on the ERP system to run many aspects of the business, factors such as support and the long-term viability of the supplier are important considerations.

A realistic business case will depend on getting an accurate estimate of the cost of the new ERP system. There are several key factors to consider. The most obvious are the licensing costs for the software itself. If you’re buying a cloud-based ERP system, you’ll need to factor in a subscription cost based on factors such as the number of modules and users. If you’re using an on-premises system, the cost will include software licenses, the hardware needed to run the system, and any technology experts or ERP professionals needed to install, run and maintain the system.

But you also need to consider the costs of implementing the new system. These include:

Software configuration and deployment: For all systems, you’ll need to include the cost of setting up the system and customizing it to your business needs if necessary, for which you’ll probably need professional help—or at least someone on your IT team who has experience and expertise with the system you’re implementing. If you choose an on-premises system, also include the cost of on-site hardware and software licenses, plus the cost of the expertise needed for installation and maintenance.

Process redesign: Improved business processes are a key goal of many ERP implementations. Companies generally either need professional help or they need to allocate internal resources to determine how to redesign business processes. Data migration —moving data from legacy systems into the ERP is a time consuming and tedious process. Determine how much history you need in the new ERP and how you can still get historical information from the previous systems. Most companies take no more than 3 years of data forward into the new ERP to help reduce implementation costs.

Report writing: Most projects include a report writer who will develop customized reports for people throughout the company. Good ERP solutions will include a decent selection of standard reports; some of them make creating customized reports manageable for most power users.

Training: Include costs for training employees on how to use the system, plus any training required for the IT staff needed to install on-premises systems and other specialists, such as the report writer. Change management—change is inevitable with any ERP implementation. Not just for employees who use the new systems but also for customers who get a new looking invoice, suppliers who have to learn a new purchasing process or managers who receive new reports.

Analyze returns on investment

A comparison of the value of the anticipated business benefits with the costs involved is key in the decision whether to go forward. The analysis should include both tangible benefits, such as reduced costs and increased revenue, and less-tangible benefits, such as customer satisfaction. The ROI analysis will include a comparison of the cost of the ERP software with the operating costs of the systems it will replace.

In practice, ERP statistics show companies achieve a wide variety of measurable benefits. A Forrester analysis of four companies’ experiences found that they reported average finance reporting and management efficiencies of more than $408,000 due to improved procurement efficiency and ability to reduce hiring, revenue growth due to improved customer and order management and communication and reduced and avoided IT costs of nearly $749,000.

All major changes to the organization include risks, and a business plan should explain those risks—including the risk that the implementation may be unsuccessful. Careful planning of the ERP implementation can mitigate those risks.

For example, involving all departments that will use the ERP system during the design phase can help to ensure that users take full advantage of the system when it is deployed, improving the chances the organization will actually realize predicted benefits. Different implementation strategies can be used, depending on the organization’s risk tolerance and how quickly it wants to reap the benefits of the new system. For example, rolling out an ERP system in stages is less risky than a “big bang” all-at-once deployment, but a staged approach may result in a slower payback.

Create a high-level implementation plan

The business case should include a high-level implementation strategy —not a detailed step-by-step description, but enough information to give everyone an idea of how the project will proceed, the resources that will be needed and the expected timeframe for achieving results.

Once you get buy-in, then it’s time for a detailed ERP implementation checklist .

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How to Convince Stakeholders

Multiple departments are likely to benefit from an ERP system implementation—but that also means that each of those departments may have to change the way they work, to some extent.

To convince them that it’s worthwhile, the project’s sponsor and ERP implementation team need to explain the business case in terms that are meaningful to the stakeholders. Take time to understand each stakeholder’s agenda and prepare information that’s tailored to address their values and concerns. For example, when speaking to customer service, the project team might focus on faster resolution of customer problems and the ability to interact with customers via different channels.

The CEO and corporate decision-makers generally need hard financial data to rationalize the investment. An ERP can be the power behind a mature financial modeling practice , for example.

Why Replace Your ERP System?

A new ERP system doesn’t always replace a hodge-podge of older standalone applications. Sometimes an organization has an older system that it’s outgrown, or that hasn’t kept up with ERP trends such as mobility or machine learning. Some organizations have older on-premises or two-tier ERP systems that have been so highly customized over the years that it’s extremely difficult to upgrade to new releases.

The process for building a business case is similar to the process described above: Analyze the issues, costs and potential benefits, explore some ERP implementation case studies, consider the risks and develop a high-level implementation plan.

By building a business case for your company that covers the benefits, costs, risks and opportunities of launching an implementation, you can take the first step towards reaping the benefits of a modern ERP.

3 Successful ERP Implementation Case Studies

What do a maker of grooming products for men, a fast-growing moving business and a specialized shipping logistics provider have in common? All three had intractable challenges that…

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How to Write a Business Case (Template Included)

Table of Contents

What is a business case, how to write a business case, business case template, watch our business case training video, key elements of a business case, how projectmanager helps with your business case.

A business case is a project management document that explains how the benefits of a project overweigh its costs and why it should be executed. Business cases are prepared during the project initiation phase and their purpose is to include all the project’s objectives, costs and benefits to convince stakeholders of its value.

A business case is an important project document to prove to your client, customer or stakeholder that the project proposal you’re pitching is a sound investment. Below, we illustrate the steps to writing one that will sway them.

The need for a business case is that it collects the financial appraisal, proposal, strategy and marketing plan in one document and offers a full look at how the project will benefit the organization. Once your business case is approved by the project stakeholders, you can begin the project planning phase.

Projects fail without having a solid business case to rest on, as this project document is the base for the project charter and project plan. But if a project business case is not anchored to reality, and doesn’t address a need that aligns with the larger business objectives of the organization, then it is irrelevant.

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Use this free Business Case Template for Word to manage your projects better.

The research you’ll need to create a strong business case is the why, what, how and who of your project. This must be clearly communicated. The elements of your business case will address the why but in greater detail. Think of the business case as a document that is created during the project initiation phase but will be used as a reference throughout the project life cycle.

Whether you’re starting a new project or mid-way through one, take time to write up a business case to justify the project expenditure by identifying the business benefits your project will deliver and that your stakeholders are most interested in reaping from the work. The following four steps will show you how to write a business case.

Step 1: Identify the Business Problem

Projects aren’t created for projects’ sake. They should always be aligned with business goals . Usually, they’re initiated to solve a specific business problem or create a business opportunity.

You should “Lead with the need.” Your first job is to figure out what that problem or opportunity is, describe it, find out where it comes from and then address the time frame needed to deal with it.

This can be a simple statement but is best articulated with some research into the economic climate and the competitive landscape to justify the timing of the project.

Step 2: Identify the Alternative Solutions

How do you know whether the project you’re undertaking is the best possible solution to the problem defined above? Naturally, prioritizing projects is hard, and the path to success is not paved with unfounded assumptions.

One way to narrow down the focus to make the right solution clear is to follow these six steps (after the relevant research, of course):

• Note the alternative solutions.
• For each solution, quantify its benefits.
• Also, forecast the costs involved in each solution.
• Then figure out its feasibility .
• Discern the risks and issues associated with each solution.
• Finally, document all this in your business case.

Step 3: Recommend a Preferred Solution

You’ll next need to rank the solutions, but before doing that it’s best to set up criteria, maybe have a scoring mechanism such as a decision matrix to help you prioritize the solutions to best choose the right one.

Some methodologies you can apply include:

• Depending on the solution’s cost and benefit , give it a score of 1-10.
• Base your score on what’s important to you.
• Add more complexity to your ranking to cover all bases.

Regardless of your approach, once you’ve added up your numbers, the best solution to your problem will become evident. Again, you’ll want to have this process also documented in your business case.

Step 4: Describe the Implementation Approach

So, you’ve identified your business problem or opportunity and how to reach it, now you have to convince your stakeholders that you’re right and have the best way to implement a process to achieve your goals. That’s why documentation is so important; it offers a practical path to solve the core problem you identified.

Now, it’s not just an exercise to appease senior leadership. Who knows what you might uncover in the research you put into exploring the underlying problem and determining alternative solutions? You might save the organization millions with an alternate solution than the one initially proposed. When you put in the work on a strong business case, you’re able to get your sponsors or organizational leadership on board with you and have a clear vision as to how to ensure the delivery of the business benefits they expect.

Our business case template for Word is the perfect tool to start writing a business case. It has 9 key business case areas you can customize as needed. Download the template for free and follow the steps below to create a great business case for all your projects.

One of the key steps to starting a business case is to have a business case checklist. The following is a detailed outline to follow when developing your business case. You can choose which of these elements are the most relevant to your project stakeholders and add them to our business case template. Then once your business case is approved, start managing your projects with a robust project management software such as ProjectManager.

1. Executive Summary

The executive summary is a short version of each section of your business case. It’s used to give stakeholders a quick overview of your project.

2. Project Definition

This section is meant to provide general information about your projects, such as the business objectives that will be achieved and the project plan outline.

3. Vision, Goals and Objectives

First, you have to figure out what you’re trying to do and what is the problem you want to solve. You’ll need to define your project vision, goals and objectives. This will help you shape your project scope and identify project deliverables.

4. Project Scope

The project scope determines all the tasks and deliverables that will be executed in your project to reach your business objectives.

5. Background Information

Here you can provide a context for your project, explaining the problem that it’s meant to solve, and how it aligns with your organization’s vision and strategic plan.

6. Success Criteria and Stakeholder Requirements

Depending on what kind of project you’re working on, the quality requirements will differ, but they are critical to the project’s success. Collect all of them, figure out what determines if you’ve successfully met them and report on the results .

7. Project Plan

It’s time to create the project plan. Figure out the tasks you’ll have to take to get the project done. You can use a work breakdown structure template  to make sure you are through. Once you have all the tasks collected, estimate how long it will take to complete each one.

Project management software makes creating a project plan significantly easier. ProjectManager can upload your work breakdown structure template and all your tasks are populated in our tool. You can organize them according to your production cycle with our kanban board view, or use our Gantt chart view to create a project schedule.

8. Project Budget

Your budget is an estimate of everything in your project plan and what it will cost to complete the project over the scheduled time allotted.

9. Project Schedule

Make a timeline for the project by estimating how long it will take to get each task completed. For a more impactful project schedule , use a tool to make a Gantt chart, and print it out. This will provide that extra flourish of data visualization and skill that Excel sheets lack.

10. Project Governance

Project governance refers to all the project management rules and procedures that apply to your project. For example, it defines the roles and responsibilities of the project team members and the framework for decision-making.

11. Communication Plan

Have milestones for check-ins and status updates, as well as determine how stakeholders will stay aware of the progress over the project life cycle.

12. Progress Reports

Have a plan in place to monitor and track your progress during the project to compare planned to actual progress. There are project tracking tools that can help you monitor progress and performance.

Again, using a project management tool improves your ability to see what’s happening in your project. ProjectManager has tracking tools like dashboards and status reports that give you a high-level view and more detail, respectively. Unlike light-weight apps that make you set up a dashboard, ours is embedded in the tool. Better still, our cloud-based software gives you real-time data for more insightful decision-making. Also, get reports on more than just status updates, but timesheets, workload, portfolio status and much more, all with just one click. Then filter the reports and share them with stakeholders to keep them updated.

13. Financial Appraisal

This is a very important section of your business case because this is where you explain how the financial benefits outweigh the project costs . Compare the financial costs and benefits of your project. You can do this by doing a sensitivity analysis and a cost-benefit analysis.

14. Market Assessment

Research your market, competitors and industry, to find opportunities and threats

15. Competitor Analysis

Identify direct and indirect competitors and do an assessment of their products, strengths, competitive advantages and their business strategy.

16. SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis helps you identify your organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The strengths and weaknesses are internal, while the opportunities and threats are external.

17. Marketing Strategy

Describe your product, distribution channels, pricing, target customers among other aspects of your marketing plan or strategy.

18. Risk Assessment

There are many risk categories that can impact your project. The first step to mitigating them is to identify and analyze the risks associated with your project activities.

ProjectManager , an award-winning project management software, can collect and assemble all the various data you’ll be collecting, and then easily share it both with your team and project sponsors.

Once you have a spreadsheet with all your tasks listed, you can import it into our software. Then it’s instantly populated into a Gantt chart . Simply set the duration for each of the tasks, add any dependencies, and your project is now spread across a timeline. You can set milestones, but there is so much more you can do.

You have a project plan now, and from the online Gantt chart, you can assign team members to tasks. Then they can comment directly on the tasks they’re working on, adding as many documents and images as needed, fostering a collaborative environment. You can track their progress and change task durations as needed by dragging and dropping the start and end dates.

But that’s only a taste of what ProjectManager offers. We have kanban boards that visualize your workflow and a real-time dashboard that tracks six project metrics for the most accurate view of your project possible.

Try ProjectManager and see for yourself with this 30-day free trial .

If you want more business case advice, take a moment to watch Jennifer Bridges, PMP, in this short training video. She explains the steps you have to take in order to write a good business case.

Here’s a screenshot for your reference.

Transcription:

Today we’re talking about how to write a business case. Well, over the past few years, we’ve seen the market, or maybe organizations, companies or even projects, move away from doing business cases. But, these days, companies, organizations, and those same projects are scrutinizing the investments and they’re really seeking a rate of return.

So now, think of the business case as your opportunity to package your project, your idea, your opportunity, and show what it means and what the benefits are and how other people can benefit.

We want to take a look today to see what’s in the business case and how to write one. I want to be clear that when you look for information on a business case, it’s not a briefcase.

Someone called the other day and they were confused because they were looking for something, and they kept pulling up briefcases. That’s not what we’re talking about today. What we’re talking about are business cases, and they include information about your strategies, about your goals. It is your business proposal. It has your business outline, your business strategy, and even your marketing plan.

Why Do You Need a Business Case?

And so, why is that so important today? Again, companies are seeking not only their project managers but their team members to have a better understanding of business and more of an idea business acumen. So this business case provides the justification for the proposed business change or plan. It outlines the allocation of capital that you may be seeking and the resources required to implement it. Then, it can be an action plan . It may just serve as a unified vision. And then it also provides the decision-makers with different options.

So let’s look more at the steps required to put these business cases together. There are four main steps. One, you want to research your market. Really look at what’s out there, where are the needs, where are the gaps that you can serve? Look at your competition. How are they approaching this, and how can you maybe provide some other alternatives?

You want to compare and finalize different approaches that you can use to go to market. Then you compile that data and you present strategies, your goals and other options to be considered.

And then you literally document it.

So what does the document look like? Well, there are templates out there today. The components vary, but these are the common ones. And then these are what I consider essential. So there’s the executive summary. This is just a summary of your company, what your management team may look like, a summary of your product and service and your market.

The business description gives a little bit more history about your company and the mission statement and really what your company is about and how this product or service fits in.

Then, you outline the details of the product or service that you’re looking to either expand or roll out or implement. You may even include in their patents may be that you have pending or other trademarks.

Then, you want to identify and lay out your marketing strategy. Like, how are you gonna take this to your customers? Are you going to have a brick-and-mortar store? Are you gonna do this online? And, what are your plans to take it to market?

You also want to include detailed information about your competitor analysis. How are they doing things? And, how are you planning on, I guess, beating your competition?

You also want to look at and identify your SWOT. And the SWOT is your strength. What are the strengths that you have in going to market? And where are the weaknesses? Maybe some of your gaps. And further, where are your opportunities and maybe threats that you need to plan for? Then the overview of the operation includes operational information like your production, even human resources, information about the day-to-day operations of your company.

And then, your financial plan includes your profit statement, your profit and loss, any of your financials, any collateral that you may have, and any kind of investments that you may be seeking.

So these are the components of your business case. This is why it’s so important. And if you need a tool that can help you manage and track this process, then sign up for our software now at ProjectManager .

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• The beginner’s guide to writing an effe ...

The beginner’s guide to writing an effective business case

Nearly every project needs to be approved—whether that means getting the simple go-ahead from your team or gaining the support of an executive stakeholder. You may be familiar with using a project plan or project charter to propose a new initiative and get the green light for a project. But if your proposed project represents a significant business investment, you may need to build a business case.

If you’ve never written a business case, we’re here to help. With a few resources and a little planning, you can write a business case that will help you get the resources and support you need to manage a successful project.

What is a business case?

A business case is a document that explains the value or benefits your company will gain if you pursue a significant business investment or initiative. This initiative can be anything from the messaging for a new product or feature launch, a proposal to increase spend on a current initiative, or a significant investment with a new agency or contractor—to name a few. A compelling business case will outline the expected benefits of this significant investment decision. Key stakeholders will use the business case you provide to determine whether or not to move forward with an initiative.

If you’ve never created a business case, it may sound similar to other early project planning documentation. Here’s how it stacks up:

The difference between a business case and business plan

A  business case  is a proposal for a new strategy or large initiative. It should outline the business needs and benefits your company will receive from pursuing this opportunity.

A  business plan , on the other hand, is an outline for a totally new business. Typically, you’d draft a business plan to map out your business strategy, your mission and vision statements, and how you’re planning on getting there. There may be a case where you create a business plan for an already-existing business, but you’d only do so if you’re trying to take your business in a significantly new direction.

Business case vs. executive summary

Business case vs. project charter.

If you need to create an elevator pitch for your project but you don’t quite need the full business case treatment, you might need a project charter. Much like a business case, a project charter outlines key details of an initiative. Specifically, a project charter will cover three main elements of your project: project objectives, project scope, and key project stakeholders. Your management team will then use the project charter to approve further project development.

Do you need a business case?

Not every project needs a business case—or even a project charter. Plan to build a business case only for initiatives or investments that will require significant business resources. If you’re working on a smaller initiative, consider creating a project charter to pitch your project idea to relevant stakeholders.

Even if you don’t need to pitch your project to any stakeholders, you should be ready to answer basic questions about your proposed project, like:

What is this project’s purpose?

Why are we working on this project?

How does this project connect to organizational goals and objectives?

Which metrics will we use to measure the success of the project ?

Who is working on this project?

When is this project going to be completed?

5 steps for creating and pitching a business case

Your business case shouldn’t just include key facts and figures—it should also tell a story of why pursuing a particular investment or initiative is a good idea for your business. When in doubt, avoid jargon and be brief—but always focus on communicating the value of the project. If this is your first time creating a business case, don’t worry. Follow these five steps to create a solid one.

1. Gather input

You don’t have to write a business case on your own. Instead, make sure appropriate team members and stakeholders are contributing to the relevant sections. For example, the IT team should be involved in any tooling and timeline decisions, while the finance team should review any budget and risk management sections. If you’re creating a business case to propose a new initiative, product line, or customer persona, make sure you also consult subject matter experts.

2. Plan to write your business case out of order

Some of the first things that appear in your business case—like your executive summary—should actually be drafted last, when you have all of the resources and information to make an informed suggestion. Your executive summary will present all of your findings and make a recommendation for the business based on a variety of factors. By gathering all of those details first—like project purpose, financial information, and project risk—you can ensure your executive summary has all of the relevant information.

3. Build your business case incrementally

A business case describes a significant investment for your company. Similarly, simply writing a business case is a significant investment of your time. Not every initiative is right for your business—so make sure you’re checking your work with stakeholders as you go. You don’t want to sink hours and weeks into this document only for it to be rejected by executive stakeholders right off the bat.

Consider doing a “soft launch” with an outline of your business case to your project sponsor or an executive stakeholder you have a good relationship with to confirm this initiative is something you should pursue. Then, as you build the different sections of your business case, check back in with your key stakeholders to confirm there are no deal-breakers.

4. Refine the document

As you create sections of your business case, you may need to go back and refine other sections. For example, once you’ve finished doing a cost-benefit analysis with your financial team, make sure you update any budget-related project risks.

Before presenting your business case, do a final read through with key stakeholders to look for any sections that can be further refined. At this stage, you’ll also want to write the executive summary that goes at the top of the document. Depending on the length of your business case, your executive summary should be one to two pages long.

5. Present the business case

The final step is to actually present your business case. Start with a quick elevator pitch that answers the what, why, and how of your proposal. Think of this presentation as your chance to explain the current business need, how your proposal addresses the need, and what the business benefits are. Make sure to address any risks or concerns you think your audience would have.

Don’t go through your business case page by page. Instead, share the document with stakeholders before the presentation so they have a chance to read through it ahead of time. Then, after your presentation, share the document again so stakeholders can dig into details.

A business case checklist

Start with the why.

The first section of the business case is your chance to make a compelling argument about the new project. Make sure you draft an argument that appeals to your audience’s interests and needs. Despite being the first section in your business case, this should be the last section you write. In addition to including the  traditional elements of an executive summary , make sure you answer:

What business problem is your project solving?  This is your chance to explain why your project is important and why executive stakeholders should consider pursuing this opportunity.

What is your business objective ?  What happens at the end of a successful project? How will you measure success—and what does a successful project mean for your business?

How does this business case fit into your overall company business strategy plan?  Make sure your proposed business case is connected to important  company goals . The initiative proposed in your business case should move the needle towards your company's  vision statement .

Outline financials and the return on investment

At this point in your business case, you should outline the project finance fundamentals. Don’t expect to create this section on your own—you should draft this in partnership with your company’s finance team. In particular, this section should answer:

How much will this project cost?  Even if the initiative is completely new to your company, do some research to estimate the project costs.

What does each individual component of the project cost?  In addition to estimating the total overall cost, break down the different project costs. For example, you might have project costs for new tools and resources, competitive intelligence resourcing, agency costs, etc.

What is the expected return on investment (ROI)?  You’ve talked about the costs—now talk about how your company will benefit from this initiative. Make sure to explain how you calculated the ROI, too.

How will this project impact cash flow?  Cash flow is the amount of money being transferred into and out of your business. Significant investments are going to cost a lot of money, so they’ll negatively impact cash flow—but you should also expect a high ROI, which will positively impact cash flow.

What is the sensitivity analysis?  Sensitivity analysis is a summary of how uncertain your numbers are. There will be a variety of variables that impact your business case. Make sure to explain what those variables are, and how that could impact your projections.

Preview project details

Your business case is proposing a new initiative. In addition to the financial risks, take some time to preview project details. For example, your business case should include:

Your  project objectives  and  key project deliverables .  What will happen at the end of the project? What are you expecting to create or deliver once the project is over?

Your  project plan .  A project plan is a blueprint of the key elements your team needs to accomplish in order to successfully achieve your project goals.

The  project scope .  What are the boundaries of your project? What exact goals, deliverables, and deadlines will you be working towards?

A list of relevant  project stakeholders .  Who are the important project stakeholders and key decision makers for this work? This can include the members of the project team that would be working on this initiative, executive stakeholders who would sponsor the project, and any external stakeholders who might be involved.

A general  project roadmap  in a Gantt-chart like view.  At this stage in the process, you don’t need to provide a detailed project timeline, but you should outline a general sense of when each project stage will happen in relation to the others. To do this, create a project roadmap in  Gantt-chart like software . Make sure to include any important  project milestones  in your roadmap as well.

Any important project dependencies.  Is there anything that would get in the way of this project getting started? Does this work rely on any other work that’s currently in flight?

Discuss project risks

Once you’ve outlined the financial impact and important project details, make sure you include any potential project risks. If you haven’t already, create a  project risk management plan  for your business case. Project risk management isn’t the process of eliminating risk—instead, it’s about identifying, analyzing, and proactively responding to any potential project risks. Clearly defining each project risk and how that risk might impact your project can best equip you and the project team to manage and avoid those risks.

In the risk section of your business case, include:

A risk analysis of any potential project risks.  What is the risk? How likely is it to happen? What is the priority level of this risk?

What, if any, assumptions you are making.  In project risk management, assumptions are anything you think will be true about the project, without those details being guaranteed facts. Basing project decisions around an assumption can open your project up to risk. Make sure you ratify every project assumption to avoid jeopardizing project success.

Any comparable alternatives in the market.  If you’re writing a business case to pitch a new product or angle in the market, evaluate anything that already exists. Could the alternative impact your financial assessment or project success?

Develop an action plan

In the final section of your business case, outline how you will turn this business case into an actionable project. This section should answer questions like:

How will decisions be made?  Who is responsible for the project? Who is the project sponsor? If you haven’t already, consider creating a  RACI chart  to outline project responsibilities.

How will progress be measured and reported?  Not every project stakeholder needs to be notified of every project change. Outline key parts of your project communication plan , as well as how you’ll communicate  project status updates .

What is the next course of action?  If the management team ratifies this business case, what next steps will you take to put this into action?

Bring your business case to life

You’ve built a solid business case and it’s been ratified—congratulations! The next step is to bring your business case to life. It can be intimidating to  initiate large-scale change , and implementing your business case is no exception.

If you haven’t already, make sure you have a  project management tool  in place to manage and organize your new initiative. With a central source of truth to track who’s doing what by when, share status updates, and keep project stakeholders in the loop, you can turn a great business case into a successful project.

Related resources

How to use a feasibility study in project management

How to track utilization rate and drive team profitability

How to accomplish big things with long-term goals

Smooth product launches are simpler than you think

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Integrated planning: The key to agile enterprise performance management

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Table of contents

What is integrated planning, change as a given: the truth about plans, planning across the organization, the ultimate integrated planning solution.

• Need for real-time insights
• Integrated planning
• Agile and ready organizations
• Integrated planning drives better results

Integration is key to streamlined planning, budgeting, and forecasting. In order to adapt to today's quickly changing business conditions, you need an enterprise performance management solution that creates a single source of truth and delivers speed and agility to your planning process.

Did you know that 33 percent of critical information is delivered late?

The delay of critical information can cause a ripple effect that drives poor decision making and poor results. Today’s business simply cannot afford this type of cost in our customer-centric environment, where data is one of our most valuable assets. To stay ahead of the competition, businesses rely on a solution that can deliver acceleration, agility, and collaboration in every part of the organization.

Integrated planning ensures all parts of the organization are connected and planning is streamlined.

A must in the culture of “now.”

In virtually all industries, work has become more interactive and collaborative. More sharing is required, and more data is available than ever before. Success means integrating information across strategic and operational perspectives, as well as different functional and external sources.

Integrated planning mirrors the modern way we do business — it elevates the critical value of collaboration and cuts through data silos, driving more access to information and faster insights. Leaders use highly collaborative approaches to plan, budget, and forecast. Business planning requires accurate and complete data and buy-in across the entire organization, both from the top down and the bottom up. It sounds simple, but organizational silos are some of the biggest obstacles to accomplishing good work because they hinder critical decisions that strategically steer the business. And at the modern enterprise, silos are everywhere.

Integrated planning starts with a sophisticated planning platform that everyone in the organization can use, creating one source of truth. Data from diverse data sources such as ERPs, CRMs, and HRMs is unified, so users can access the information they need when they need it. Integrated planning helps ensure that plans, budgets, and forecasts are created with a holistic approach. Trends are easier to spot and quickly act on with more accurate and reliable plans. According to analysts at the Aberdeen Group , those organizations that champion data accessibility and collaboration between stakeholders promote organizational accountability and decrease time-to-decisions while increasing revenue. 1

The fact of the matter is that without effective communication, coordination, and collaboration between stakeholders, there is no way to improve organizational performance. 1

Bringing together people, data, and technology leaves organizations well-poised for optimal performance. Most importantly, integrated planning enables employees to be agile in responding to changing circumstances and able make the best decisions possible — all at the speed of modern business.

According to an Aberdeen study, 1 leaders who adopt enterprise performance management tools show a keen understanding of the importance of collaboration. They recognize that to make data driven decisions, they need to make all information accessible by integrating data and breaking down silos. Figure 1 shows steps taken by leaders to democratize data and drive more accurate forecasts.

Leaders put a high value on data integration and accessibility. They see the value of providing real-time data to decision makers and taking the guesswork out of forecasting. These strategies create comprehensive, actionable visibility into overall company performance and drive better results.

Gartner Predicts by 2020, at least 25 percent of large organizations will increase planning accuracy by integrating key operational planning processes with financial planning and analysis. 2

Do you have an integrated view of your data?

I do not feel confident in where to find comprehensive data, even for just my department

I have a good handle on my own departmental data (but only mine)

I have access to my data and that of other departments that impact my planning

IBM Planning Analytics helps Deutsche Bahn unite its global enterprise

Deutsche Bahn AG is a German railway company, and one of the largest IBM Planning Analytics customers with over 6,000 users worldwide. Deutsche Bahn uses IBM Planning Analytics to unite their wide-ranging operations across the globe, ensuring that the most accurate data is being used to create critical plans and forecasts that drive their business forward.

The truth about plans is that they always change. The goal of a dynamic, integrated planning approach is not to create a perfect, fixed plan. It’s to use all the resources available to create the most accurate, flexible and transparent plan possible, using a solution that does more than just plan — it analyzes data, reveals trends, and allows for real-time iteration.

Better, quicker access to data means faster and more informed decisions, laying the foundation for an organization to be agile and ready to pivot when changing business conditions demand.

If you’re reading this and thinking, “great, the finance team integrates all our plans, so we are off the hook,” think again. While we’d like to think that finance is the well-informed master of plans, miraculously weaving them together in perfect harmony and balance, that’s not always the case. In fact, it rarely is. Many, many finance teams rely on the manual collection of data into spreadsheets, which are often disconnected. Remember that much of an organization’s critical planning starts outside of finance and never gets communicated back up the chain or across the organization. There are simply too many top-down and bottom-up communication problems. Spreadsheets only complicate smooth communications. When a finance person is collecting and analyzing budget spreadsheets from across the organization, there is high risk for error in the process of combining and editing, causing confusion at the highest levels. Contradictory data can inhibit a clear picture of what is actually going on and identifying business drivers or detractors. Spreadsheets have proven over and over to be a highly imperfect yet highly common business practice.

With real-time access to data, companies take the guesswork out of planning, decreasing time involved in forecasting and increasing forecast accuracy. 3

Bye bye, silos. Hello, cross-functional planning.

A centralized, automated solution for performance data and planning allows coordination between different parts of the business and enables more streamlined, accurate plans. Leadership needs to understand what is truly driving the business — what causes increases and decreases in revenue or demand. At every level, access to a full range of data is critical to understanding how change (both internal and external) impacts the business. Though planning often starts with finance, other areas of the business can benefit from a dynamic planning solution as well. Let’s dive into a few use cases.

Supply chain planning

The term “operations” covers an enormous range of business activities. But one that’s almost universal is supply chain management. Supply chain planners are under constant pressure to reduce costs, increase efficiency and improve margins. Unfortunately, too many of them lack visibility into data and are misaligned with other teams. One centralized tool can help connect operational tactics with financial plans to allocate resources more effectively in response to market opportunities or competitive threats. This helps planners avoid mismatched data across multiple spreadsheets and enables them to pivot in the case of supply chain disruptions.

“ Our managers all have quick, easy access to the latest operational data via detailed reports that help them make better-informed decisions to improve the efficiency of the entire supply chain. ”

- Homarjun Agrahari, Director, Advanced Analytics, FleetPride

Learn more about supply chain planning

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Workforce planning

A company is only as good its people. That’s why it’s so important to hire and retain the right talent. Alignment between HR, finance and operations is crucial to ensure that the right people are in the right roles at the right time in order to meet organizational demands. This is rarely a simple task and too often it involves manual spreadsheet-based processes. Ensuring that departmental staffing targets are in sync with broader organizational objectives requires high levels of planning integration.

“ Our business is based on people. IBM Analytics is helping us manage that critical asset much more efficiently and effectively than ever before. ”

- Nadia Bertoncini, Coordinator of Governance, Projects and HR Analytics for Latin America, Natura Cosméticos

Learn more about workforce planning

Infographic Aberdeen report Learn more

Sales planning

Misalignment between finance, marketing and sales could lead to investment in the wrong initiatives, missed opportunities and inaccurate revenue forecasts that can severely hinder sales growth. And in a fast-moving market, manual processes and siloed systems are detrimental to agility. Decisions that are based on outdated information can lead to misguided sales strategies and thus lost sales and lost revenue. It’s critical to unite data under one roof for one single view to boost sales and effectively manage sales people.

“ The sheer level of detail that IBM Planning Analytics provides is very impressive … We can calculate our sales and gross margins for each SKU in IBM Planning Analytics and generate insightful reports at the click of a button. As a result, senior managers can rapidly access the comprehensive information they need to make effective strategic decisions. ”

- Vince Mertens, Group Accounting and Consolidation Manager, Continental Foods

Learn more about sales planning

Marketing planning

Constantly changing customer preferences and rising customer expectations require marketers to interpret high volumes of data and respond appropriately. But siloed data systems give only a partial picture and hinder smart decision-making. In addition, marketing teams can be fragmented and often disconnected from sales. Siloed planning causes misalignment with overall marketing goals, driving misallocated spend on the wrong elements of the marketing mix. Manual, siloed processes reduce visibility into how marketing activities affect one another, how marketing and sales touches move a lead through the funnel and how marketing helps achieve overall financial and business goals.

“ We first needed a better handle on our sales data. With so many lines of business, channels, and franchisees, collecting and consolidating this information was something that we knew we could do better. ”

- Donald Neumann, Demand Manager, Grupo Boticário

Learn more about marketing planning

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IT planning

With IT, you need a business case for every dollar spent. But balancing the IT needs of an entire organization with digital transformation objectives and constant technology innovation is no simple task, and often requires additional resources. That’s why it’s so important leverage a planning solution that keeps IT focused on the projects that matter, automates planning tasks, gives a clear view into resources available and helps measure ROI. It’s also critical to coordinate with both finance and human resources to ensure the right resources are provided for IT initiatives and projects.

“ A few years ago, my team probably spent around half their time just keeping everything running — now it’s around 10 percent. With the move to IBM Analytics in the IBM Cloud, we have 40 percent more time to focus on working with the business to add value. Instead of asking ‘how do I make it work?’ we ask ourselves ‘how do I make it better?’ It’s a quantum shift in mindset. ”

- Vimal Dev, Vice President – IT, Global Enterprise Applications Leader, Genpact

Learn more about IT planning

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Operations, sales, marketing, human resources and other departments and disciplines all have a need for fast, flexible planning and analysis. And all of them can use the same tools to provide insight and manage performance. When people in one part of the organization see how their decisions affect other parts of the organization, all of the activities will be better coordinated and drive better results. In fact, according to Aberdeen, leading organizations are those who align planning across departments at double the rate of laggards in areas like sales, marketing and finance.

Become a leader

With IBM Planning Analytics , you can break down silos and generate an integrated view of your departmental or organizational performance. The solution enables you to create more accurate forecasts, identify potential performance gaps before they occur and make resource allocation decisions quickly and intelligently. Using multidimensional modeling and scenario analysis, IBM Planning Analytics lets you drill down into your data to examine the ripple effects of alternative courses of action and understand how your decision will affect related areas of the organization and ultimately impact the bottom line.

Using what-if scenario analysis to make smarter decisions

With IBM Planning Analytics, you can build multidimensional models and perform “what-if” analysis to explore scenarios or test business assumptions. Creating and maintaining sophisticated models with advanced sandboxing capabilities is simple. Easily test business assumptions and model scenarios to immediately see the impact of alternative courses of action on before deciding to implement changes.

IBM Planning Analytics offers all areas of your business — finance, operations, HR, sales, marketing, operations, IT and more — the ability to solve problems today and respond to new challenges with agility tomorrow.

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Headcount and staffing planning

Salary and compensation planning

Successions planning

Corporate planning and, budgeting and forecasting

Strategy planning

Operational planning

Capital planning

Expense planning

Profitability analysis

Demand planning

Sales and operations planning

IT project planning

IT budgeting

IT portfolio management

Sales territory planning and quota planning

Sales forecasting

Sales capacity planning

Resource allocation

Marketing revenue planning and forecasting

Campaign optimization

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Shortfall: CFOs worry that their teams aren’t ready to weather the disruption

Here are four issues that are holding back many finance organizations and possible solutions.

Integrated Business Planning

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Corporate planning, budgeting and forecasting

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Captial planning

Unleashing the next wave of productivity in corporate business functions

The case for digital platforms as a productivity accelerator.

As the economy continues to reel from the effects of COVID-19 and its aftermath, consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies’ business operating models are under more pressure than ever. Changes in consumer preferences, competition from existing players, and disruption brought by new ones create challenges on top of dramatically spiking costs. Prices for food and packaging commodities have increased by more than 22 percent, causing margin pressure across CPG categories. Manufacturing wages and labor costs rose in 2020 from 5 percent to 20 percent of total costs as well, due to additional pay and overtime related to COVID-19.

To respond to these rapid, sweeping changes in the marketplace, companies need to be quicker and nimbler in their decision making. Yet many have failed to do what is necessary: transform their operating model to the new reality.

The next wave of productivity from SG&A

About the authors.

This article is a collaborative effort by  Raphael Buck , Denis Fomin,  Heiko Heimes , Bjørnar Jensen, Bertram Ledwa, and  Martin Weis , representing views from McKinsey’s Consumer Packaged Goods, Digital, Operations, and Transformation practices.

Optimizing selling, general, and administrative functions, or SG&A, can be a powerful step toward this goal, especially when considered as a key digital strategy lever . With the right end-to-end approach, these functions can transform from a “cost of doing business” into enablers that help the business manage risk, seize new opportunities, and make smarter strategic and operational decisions. Considering these elements, CPG industry players can expect an EBIT improvement of 2 to 5 percentage points.

To enable this, companies must undertake a holistic enterprise platform transformation to redesign SG&A processes, digitally enable them, and optimize them from end to end to support and enable the overall business strategy. In this model, SG&A functions such as finance, human resources, IT, and other general and administrative services will form a “digital backbone” providing the services that the rest of the business relies on for day-to-day operations. Most of these services would be delivered through self-service interfaces rather than through direct work by SG&A staff. Back-office tasks would be highly automated so that staff can concentrate on value-added activities. This will not only drive efficiencies, but enable more resources to be flexibly reallocated to new, value-adding activities and tasks in an operating model of the future.

Don’t fall into the incrementality trap

In practice though, efforts to digitally transform SG&A functions have often proven disappointing. In fact, nearly 74 percent of such attempts have not delivered their full potential value. But these efforts have been hobbled by one crucial mistake: the companies failed to take an enterprise-wide, end-to-end approach that looked at processes holistically across the business and aligned business and IT on common goals.

Such transformation must go beyond merely stitching together fragmented or inefficient processes with digital connections in order to make this happen. Rather, companies must rebuild their SG&A processes from the ground up, designing them for a digital environment and enabling them to take full advantage of next-generation enterprise software.

The implementation of new enterprise-wide technology platforms—such as the transformation of ERP-based landscapes—can present an ideal opportunity for such optimization. As companies adopt new, enterprise-wide systems, they can target processes that offer the most potential value for redesign, simplification, and standardization when moving onto the new platform, to make the most of out an enterprise solution’s extensive capabilities.

The key to ROI: Transforming SG&A end to end to get a jump on the competition

An enterprise platform transformation of SG&A functions offers a unique opportunity to holistically optimize business processes in a way that will maximize the potential of a company’s technology, improve ROI, and clarify the business requirements for new platforms and IT stacks. In our recommended approach, a company looks at the transformation’s potential value to the business, designs a target operating model, dives into the technological details, and aligns its business and technology to prepare for a transformation roadmap (Exhibit 1).

When companies attempt to transform SG&A, their approaches can vary widely. Some companies take the simplest, IT-oriented approach: implementing new or updated technology. The scope here is relatively narrow. New features, reductions in IT costs via faster processes, fewer clicks, and better data availability deliver minor value in most cases.

A few companies take the transformation a step further by transforming the functional operating model. This approach realizes value by reengineering processes, finding or creating synergies in the operating model, or reducing IT costs.

The recommended approach, however, is to expand the scope further and undertake a full, end-to-end transformation. This approach includes both of the above approaches—implementing new or updated technology and transforming the functional operating model—but goes beyond them to also include aligning the business with technology, which sets the company up to realize maximum value by digitally transforming processes from end to end, rather than focusing on only certain areas of SG&A. This enterprise-wide, process-oriented view allows the company to differentiate itself and improve customer value through optimized SG&A functions like logistics, procurement, and finance. For example, these newly optimized processes could enable “perfect order delivery,” a streamlined product portfolio, and product-oriented organization.

A full, end-to-end transformation that aligns business and technology multiplies the potential value realized by the other approaches. When executed well, it streamlines end-to-end processes, defines procedures for eliminating waste and optimizing effectiveness, drives process standards, incorporates feedback procedures to facilitate improvement, and optimizes exception handling.

How to execute: The Value Model

We recommend executing the proposed end-to-end transformation approach using the V-shaped Value Model, shown in Exhibit 2. This approach begins by taking a high-level view of the transformation’s potential business value and designing a target operating model, while also drilling down into the technology aspects of the transformation: assessing the company’s current technology landscape; aligning the business value, goals, and strategy with the planned technology; and planning a technology roadmap and approach. From there, the company moves up the “V” to again take a higher-level, business-wide view as it examines how the technology fits into end-to-end processes, how all relevant functions will be affected, and how the business’s strategy will be impacted and enabled by holistically optimized processes.

V is for value: Identifying the value and changing the operating model to capture it

The first, most critical step in driving the enterprise platform transformation is identifying and assessing sources of business value. This step involves building a high-level business case and quantifying the transformation’s potential value from an objective, “investor” point of view. Doing this step correctly is essential; if it goes awry, the entire transformation may be jeopardized. Assessing the business value sets the foundation for the entire strategy guiding the transformation.

Case Example 1

As part of an ERP transformation, McKinsey assisted a major European packaging player in reviewing the transformation’s associated sources of value. To gain a clear “line of sight” on this business value, the approach contained the following:

• Set a baseline and prioritized areas of focus. Using a hypothesis-driven approach, a value baseline for core, end-to-end processes was set and prioritized based on resource intensity and value potential. (Since processes are typically cross-functional, they should be assessed from end to end.) Ultimately, four processes were focused based on resources and strategic relevance: order-to-cash, financial planning and analysis, procure-to-pay, and hire-to-retire.
• Established the full potential business case for the transformation—beyond tech enablement. The high-level architecture and the respective migration readiness was assessed as the next step. Major levers of simplification, such as tailoring reporting to business needs, which improved data quality and reduced demand, and redesigning the costing process in reporting activities, were identified. Additionally, automation levers, including self-service within HR processes and the automatic integration of income statements, became key opportunities for improvement.
• Designed the transformation roadmap and setup. All initiatives were sequenced on the roadmap based on factors like ROI and strategic importance to realize maximum value. The roadmap also accounted for interdependencies among initiatives, including required resources on a function and IT level. To be as efficient as possible in implementation, the roadmap included three types of initiatives with different relationships to the chosen enterprise platform.

Quantifying the value requires a hypothesis-driven approach that will quickly uncover the main value levers, such as automation and simplification, which will apply from end to end across the various SG&A functions. Potential improvements that would close the gap between the current and desired operational models should also be identified. The implementation cost—including the technology, new operating model, and end-to-end business changes—must likewise be evaluated. To execute this step, companies can create a detailed list of value levers related to effort, risk, the project roadmap, and other factors to quantify the business impact of an end-to-end transformation.

Once sources of business value have been identified, the target operating model must be planned and designed from the bottom up to take full advantage of digital capabilities from end to end. It should incorporate all business transformation initiatives—including quick wins— and provide guidelines for prioritizing and sequencing them.

To develop the target operating model, companies should identify major pain points and set priorities among all relevant functions. The new model should be guided by key performance indicators that identify, track, and measure value levers and process complexities, risks, and timelines. It should also consider sustainable change management by creating a transformation office, where transformation efforts can be centralized.

Connecting the V: Business and IT working together

Now the organization can begin the process of aligning business and technology in this trans-formation effort by drilling down to the technology architecture needed to enable its new, process-oriented operating model. This starts with assessing the technology landscape of the organization and then planning the technology roadmap and approach.

Case Example 2

Supporting a consumer products company operating globally in a specific category, McKinsey launched and scaled an enterprise platform transformation program spanning multiple SG&A functions. Our efforts included the following:

• Setting up a transformation office, where most transformation-related activities are now centralized. The office manages value assurance, sets standards across the enterprise, approves tools and machinery, and chooses state-of-the-art technology for the transformation.
• Implementing agile ways of working in global business services spanning multiple geographies.
• Redesigning processes from end to end and implementing them across functions using new technologies (SAP S/4HANA, Microsoft, ServiceNow, and other process-specific workflow enablers) on a strict timeline.
• Building the capabilities of more than 100 client resources to execute the program and adopt the new, agile way of  working.

The project allowed the company to gain SG&A efficiencies of 25 percent within the first year of full implementation. We followed the Value Model illustrated in this article to align strategy with impact while also building the client team’s capabilities.

To assess the technology landscape, companies must look at their transformation’s architecture implications. They must check architectural decisions and platform strategy against best-practice reference architectures, define IT-enablement requirements for the target-state operating model, evaluate the architectural implications of improvement levers, and map those levers’ interdependencies.

To design their new architecture, companies should first determine how their overall business strategy, business processes, and IT teams interlink. Then, they can translate their strategy into optimized business processes facilitated by the new technology.

Next, companies can create a transformation roadmap by defining the requirements for transformation value assurance, aligning the roadmap with the company’s overall strategy. They can then create a high-level rollout and milestone plan while integrating all the business and technology elements, including systems and various software toolchains. Initiatives within the roadmap should be prioritized based on several criteria, including ROI, interdependencies among initiatives, IT budget and capacity, and the respective function owners.

Up the V: Delivering full potential value

Now that business and technology have been aligned, and the technology roadmap has been developed to maximize business value, the implementation roadmap can unfold. Key to the implementation’s success is a commitment to creating value. A complete transformation tool kit will enable value drivers to be executed through internal ownership, targets, detailed execution tracking, and a strict weekly cadence.

The company can pull functional levers and begin to enable its strategy as it implements the new platform. The mistakes of the past—chiefly, failing to take an enterprise-wide view and optimizing processes end to end—have been avoided. A holistic roadmap, in which technology and business support and enable one another to deliver full value, is now possible.

Getting started

The holistic approach we recommend sets up CPG companies for future success by allowing them to consider the whole value chain of their business as an integrated process network, instead of as siloed SG&A functions. According to McKinsey’s 2021 survey of senior CPG executives, optimizing SG&A is one of the most effective ways to meet targets and tackle current challenges. Indeed, superior SG&A performance has proven to be a strong predictor of success; companies that significantly improve their SG&A spending increase their EBIT margins by two to five percentage points.

The first step toward enterprise platform transformation of SG&A is to conduct an independent due diligence that includes a business diagnostic, a technical assessment, and a transformation design. Once this is achieved, embarking on the path to SG&A transformation in necessary—which, if done well and holistically, will quintuple the potential value realized and set the company up for long-term success in a rapidly changing industry.

Raphael Buck and Bjørnar Jensen are senior partners in the Zurich office, where Martin Weis is a partner. Denis Fomin is an expert in the Vienna office; Heiko Heimes is a partner in the Cologne office and Bertram Ledwa is a senior associate in the Berlin office.

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7 Favorite Business Case Studies to Teach—and Why

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FEATURED CASE STUDIES

The Army Crew Team . Emily Michelle David of CEIBS

ATH Technologies . Devin Shanthikumar of Paul Merage School of Business

Fabritek 1992 . Rob Austin of Ivey Business School

Lincoln Electric Co . Karin Schnarr of Wilfrid Laurier University

Pal’s Sudden Service—Scaling an Organizational Model to Drive Growth . Gary Pisano of Harvard Business School

The United States Air Force: ‘Chaos’ in the 99th Reconnaissance Squadron . Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School

Warren E. Buffett, 2015 . Robert F. Bruner of Darden School of Business

To dig into what makes a compelling case study, we asked seven experienced educators who teach with—and many who write—business case studies: “What is your favorite case to teach and why?”

The resulting list of case study favorites ranges in topics from operations management and organizational structure to rebel leaders and whodunnit dramas.

1. The Army Crew Team

Emily Michelle David, Assistant Professor of Management, China Europe International Business School (CEIBS)

“I love teaching  The Army Crew Team  case because it beautifully demonstrates how a team can be so much less than the sum of its parts.

I deliver the case to executives in a nearby state-of-the-art rowing facility that features rowing machines, professional coaches, and shiny red eight-person shells.

After going through the case, they hear testimonies from former members of Chinese national crew teams before carrying their own boat to the river for a test race.

The rich learning environment helps to vividly underscore one of the case’s core messages: competition can be a double-edged sword if not properly managed.

Executives in Emily Michelle David’s organizational behavior class participate in rowing activities at a nearby facility as part of her case delivery.

Despite working for an elite headhunting firm, the executives in my most recent class were surprised to realize how much they’ve allowed their own team-building responsibilities to lapse. In the MBA pre-course, this case often leads to a rich discussion about common traps that newcomers fall into (for example, trying to do too much, too soon), which helps to poise them to both stand out in the MBA as well as prepare them for the lateral team building they will soon engage in.

Finally, I love that the post-script always gets a good laugh and serves as an early lesson that organizational behavior courses will seldom give you foolproof solutions for specific problems but will, instead, arm you with the ability to think through issues more critically.”

2. ATH Technologies

Devin Shanthikumar, Associate Professor of Accounting, Paul Merage School of Business

“As a professor at UC Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business, and before that at Harvard Business School, I have probably taught over 100 cases. I would like to say that my favorite case is my own,   Compass Box Whisky Company . But as fun as that case is, one case beats it:  ATH Technologies  by Robert Simons and Jennifer Packard.

ATH presents a young entrepreneurial company that is bought by a much larger company. As part of the merger, ATH gets an ‘earn-out’ deal—common among high-tech industries. The company, and the class, must decide what to do to achieve the stretch earn-out goals.

ATH captures a scenario we all want to be in at some point in our careers—being part of a young, exciting, growing organization. And a scenario we all will likely face—having stretch goals that seem almost unreachable.

It forces us, as a class, to really struggle with what to do at each stage.

After we read and discuss the A case, we find out what happens next, and discuss the B case, then the C, then D, and even E. At every stage, we can:

see how our decisions play out,

figure out how to build on our successes, and

address our failures.

The case is exciting, the class discussion is dynamic and energetic, and in the end, we all go home with a memorable ‘ah-ha!’ moment.

I have taught many great cases over my career, but none are quite as fun, memorable, and effective as ATH .”

3. Fabritek 1992

Rob Austin, Professor of Information Systems, Ivey Business School

“This might seem like an odd choice, but my favorite case to teach is an old operations case called  Fabritek 1992 .

The latest version of Fabritek 1992 is dated 2009, but it is my understanding that this is a rewrite of a case that is older (probably much older). There is a Fabritek 1969 in the HBP catalog—same basic case, older dates, and numbers. That 1969 version lists no authors, so I suspect the case goes even further back; the 1969 version is, I’m guessing, a rewrite of an even older version.

There are many things I appreciate about the case. Here are a few:

It operates as a learning opportunity at many levels. At first it looks like a not-very-glamorous production job scheduling case. By the end of the case discussion, though, we’re into (operations) strategy and more. It starts out technical, then explodes into much broader relevance. As I tell participants when I’m teaching HBP's Teaching with Cases seminars —where I often use Fabritek as an example—when people first encounter this case, they almost always underestimate it.

It has great characters—especially Arthur Moreno, who looks like a troublemaker, but who, discussion reveals, might just be the smartest guy in the factory. Alums of the Harvard MBA program have told me that they remember Arthur Moreno many years later.

Almost every word in the case is important. It’s only four and a half pages of text and three pages of exhibits. This economy of words and sparsity of style have always seemed like poetry to me. I should note that this super concise, every-word-matters approach is not the ideal we usually aspire to when we write cases. Often, we include extra or superfluous information because part of our teaching objective is to provide practice in separating what matters from what doesn’t in a case. Fabritek takes a different approach, though, which fits it well.

It has a dramatic structure. It unfolds like a detective story, a sort of whodunnit. Something is wrong. There is a quality problem, and we’re not sure who or what is responsible. One person, Arthur Moreno, looks very guilty (probably too obviously guilty), but as we dig into the situation, there are many more possibilities. We spend in-class time analyzing the data (there’s a bit of math, so it covers that base, too) to determine which hypotheses are best supported by the data. And, realistically, the data doesn’t support any of the hypotheses perfectly, just some of them more than others. Also, there’s a plot twist at the end (I won’t reveal it, but here’s a hint: Arthur Moreno isn’t nearly the biggest problem in the final analysis). I have had students tell me the surprising realization at the end of the discussion gives them ‘goosebumps.’

Finally, through the unexpected plot twist, it imparts what I call a ‘wisdom lesson’ to young managers: not to be too sure of themselves and to regard the experiences of others, especially experts out on the factory floor, with great seriousness.”

4. Lincoln Electric Co.

Karin Schnarr, Assistant Professor of Policy, Wilfrid Laurier University

“As a strategy professor, my favorite case to teach is the classic 1975 Harvard case  Lincoln Electric Co.  by Norman Berg.

I use it to demonstrate to students the theory linkage between strategy and organizational structure, management processes, and leadership behavior.

This case may be an odd choice for a favorite. It occurs decades before my students were born. It is pages longer than we are told students are now willing to read. It is about manufacturing arc welding equipment in Cleveland, Ohio—a hard sell for a Canadian business classroom.

Yet, I have never come across a case that so perfectly illustrates what I want students to learn about how a company can be designed from an organizational perspective to successfully implement its strategy.

And in a time where so much focus continues to be on how to maximize shareholder value, it is refreshing to be able to discuss a publicly-traded company that is successfully pursuing a strategy that provides a fair value to shareholders while distributing value to employees through a large bonus pool, as well as value to customers by continually lowering prices.

However, to make the case resonate with today’s students, I work to make it relevant to the contemporary business environment. I link the case to multimedia clips about Lincoln Electric’s current manufacturing practices, processes, and leadership practices. My students can then see that a model that has been in place for generations is still viable and highly successful, even in our very different competitive situation.”

5. Pal’s Sudden Service—Scaling an Organizational Model to Drive Growth

Gary Pisano, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

“My favorite case to teach these days is  Pal’s Sudden Service—Scaling an Organizational Model to Drive Growth .

I love teaching this case for three reasons:

1. It demonstrates how a company in a super-tough, highly competitive business can do very well by focusing on creating unique operating capabilities. In theory, Pal’s should have no chance against behemoths like McDonalds or Wendy’s—but it thrives because it has built a unique operating system. It’s a great example of a strategic approach to operations in action.

2. The case shows how a strategic approach to human resource and talent development at all levels really matters. This company competes in an industry not known for engaging its front-line workers. The case shows how engaging these workers can really pay off.

3. Finally, Pal’s is really unusual in its approach to growth. Most companies set growth goals (usually arbitrary ones) and then try to figure out how to ‘backfill’ the human resource and talent management gaps. They trust you can always find someone to do the job. Pal’s tackles the growth problem completely the other way around. They rigorously select and train their future managers. Only when they have a manager ready to take on their own store do they open a new one. They pace their growth off their capacity to develop talent. I find this really fascinating and so do the students I teach this case to.”

6. The United States Air Force: ‘Chaos’ in the 99th Reconnaissance Squadron

Francesca Gino, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

“My favorite case to teach is  The United States Air Force: ‘Chaos’ in the 99th Reconnaissance Squadron .

The case surprises students because it is about a leader, known in the unit by the nickname Chaos , who inspired his squadron to be innovative and to change in a culture that is all about not rocking the boat, and where there is a deep sense that rules should simply be followed.

For years, I studied ‘rebels,’ people who do not accept the status quo; rather, they approach work with curiosity and produce positive change in their organizations. Chaos is a rebel leader who got the level of cultural change right. Many of the leaders I’ve met over the years complain about the ‘corporate culture,’ or at least point to clear weaknesses of it; but then they throw their hands up in the air and forget about changing what they can.

Chaos is different—he didn’t go after the ‘Air Force’ culture. That would be like boiling the ocean.

Instead, he focused on his unit of control and command: The 99th squadron. He focused on enabling that group to do what it needed to do within the confines of the bigger Air Force culture. In the process, he inspired everyone on his team to be the best they can be at work.

The case leaves the classroom buzzing and inspired to take action.”

7. Warren E. Buffett, 2015

Robert F. Bruner, Professor of Business Administration, Darden School of Business

“I love teaching   Warren E. Buffett, 2015  because it energizes, exercises, and surprises students.

Buffett looms large in the business firmament and therefore attracts anyone who is eager to learn his secrets for successful investing. This generates the kind of energy that helps to break the ice among students and instructors early in a course and to lay the groundwork for good case discussion practices.

Studying Buffett’s approach to investing helps to introduce and exercise important themes that will resonate throughout a course. The case challenges students to define for themselves what it means to create value. The case discussion can easily be tailored for novices or for more advanced students.

Either way, this is not hero worship: The case affords a critical examination of the financial performance of Buffett’s firm, Berkshire Hathaway, and reveals both triumphs and stumbles. Most importantly, students can critique the purported benefits of Buffett’s conglomeration strategy and the sustainability of his investment record as the size of the firm grows very large.

By the end of the class session, students seem surprised with what they have discovered. They buzz over the paradoxes in Buffett’s philosophy and performance record. And they come away with sober respect for Buffett’s acumen and for the challenges of creating value for investors.

Surely, such sobriety is a meta-message for any mastery of finance.”

More Educator Favorites

Emily Michelle David is an assistant professor of management at China Europe International Business School (CEIBS). Her current research focuses on discovering how to make workplaces more welcoming for people of all backgrounds and personality profiles to maximize performance and avoid employee burnout. David’s work has been published in a number of scholarly journals, and she has worked as an in-house researcher at both NASA and the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Devin Shanthikumar  is an associate professor and the accounting area coordinator at UCI Paul Merage School of Business. She teaches undergraduate, MBA, and executive-level courses in managerial accounting. Shanthikumar previously served on the faculty at Harvard Business School, where she taught both financial accounting and managerial accounting for MBAs, and wrote cases that are used in accounting courses across the country.

Robert D. Austin is a professor of information systems at Ivey Business School and an affiliated faculty member at Harvard Medical School. He has published widely, authoring nine books, more than 50 cases and notes, three Harvard online products, and two popular massive open online courses (MOOCs) running on the Coursera platform.

Karin Schnarr is an assistant professor of policy and the director of the Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) program at the Lazaridis School of Business & Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada where she teaches strategic management at the undergraduate, graduate, and executive levels. Schnarr has published several award-winning and best-selling cases and regularly presents at international conferences on case writing and scholarship.

Gary P. Pisano is the Harry E. Figgie, Jr. Professor of Business Administration and senior associate dean of faculty development at Harvard Business School, where he has been on the faculty since 1988. Pisano is an expert in the fields of technology and operations strategy, the management of innovation, and competitive strategy. His research and consulting experience span a range of industries including aerospace, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, specialty chemicals, health care, nutrition, computers, software, telecommunications, and semiconductors.

Francesca Gino studies how people can have more productive, creative, and fulfilling lives. She is a professor at Harvard Business School and the author, most recently, of  Rebel Talent: Why It Pays to Break the Rules at Work and in Life . Gino regularly gives keynote speeches, delivers corporate training programs, and serves in advisory roles for firms and not-for-profit organizations across the globe.

Robert F. Bruner is a university professor at the University of Virginia, distinguished professor of business administration, and dean emeritus of the Darden School of Business. He has also held visiting appointments at Harvard and Columbia universities in the United States, at INSEAD in France, and at IESE in Spain. He is the author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books on finance, management, and teaching. Currently, he teaches and writes in finance and management.

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IT Governance Priorities Committee

During the 2 month period our team worked with a financial services firm, we analyzed, designed, and implemented a business participation plan, developed from an understanding of it projects, priorities, constraints and issues., project background.

A growing financial services firm was struggling to balance conflicting initiative requests within a fixed budget. Delivery was sub-optimized as the organization attempted to be all things to all people. Business executives did not understand or feel they were a part of the IT project decision-making process.

The Strategy

A committee of 13 senior business people and two IT staffers was formed to hear requests and approve and prioritize IT projects. Processes were created, and committee members were educated in IT methodologies, budget processes, and PMO processes. Critical to the success of this process was teaching IT staff to present technical items to the business executives in verbiage they could understand.

Proven Results

• No project was ever initiated without prior approval and prioritization by the business. Business sponsors were always identified, and they typically justified their own projects to the committee.
• Greater focus was placed on cross-divisional delivery needs, an initiative developed from a more intimate understanding of the challenges facing the IT organization.
• True prioritization occurred, with acknowledgment of items not being resourced.
• Building a track record of successful delivery against these priorities created an environment where further funding for critical initiatives was provided.

More Successful Projects

Cloud Consolidation

Cloud Migration

Cloud Management

Uncover opportunities for it excellence.

Terra Gaines, Senior Account Manager for Harvard Partners has been in the Staffing Industry for 17 years, supporting multiple industry verticals and market segments including: IT, Cybersecurity, Semi-Conductor, Tech Integrators, Finance & Medical to name a few. Her personal and professional passions have always been people centric and she’s extremely proud of providing white glove service to each client and manager that she serves.

Jill Gearhart, Director Client Services, has over 20 years of Account Management experience in technology service areas across IT Consulting & Staffing, Cloud, Datacenter, Networking & Communications. Jill’s focus is in Client Engagement, proposing and ensuring the successful delivery of services from the Harvard Partners Portfolio tailored to attain each Client’s desired business outcomes, including the Staffing of essential resources.

Prior to joining Harvard Partners in 2014, she held a high-level Account Management position at a global technology company now known as Lumen (formerly CenturyLink), where she was appointed to multiple Excellence Advisory boards in several Enterprise product areas, domestic and abroad, over the span of 11 years. Notably, after the Qwest-CenturyLink Merger in 2010, and the acquisition of Savvis thereafter, she was instrumental in the integration between organizations in the effort to build a seamless customer experience. Through continual engagement with Enterprise client organizations throughout her tenure, she has had the privilege of collaborating on solutions and individual resources needed to answer numerous business objectives, whether expanding into new markets or advancing operational efficiency and resiliency.

Education: Bachelor’s of Science, Business Administration, Bryant University, Cum Laude

Chris Callaghan is the Director of Architecture Services and is responsible for overseeing the architectural services arm of Harvard Partners. This includes everything from to architecture approach strategy, to candidate selection & vetting, to engagement leadership. Chris has years of technology architecture consulting experience ranging from boutique architectural services companies to larger, established consulting companies. He’s played multiple roles, from individual contribution to client and consultant management.

Prior to joining Harvard Partners, he was the Engagement Lead and Consultant Manager at Systems Flow, Inc. where he was responsible for client engagement management, consultant management, architectural services, SOW negotiation/creation/signing, training, etc. Prior to that, he worked as an Enterprise Solutions Architect for a large reinsurance firm under Fairfax Holdings.

Gary Gardner is the Managing Director of Harvard Partners and an Information Technology executive with over 30 years of global Investment Management experience. He has a broad range of knowledge of Investment Management systems including investment research, portfolio management, trading, compliance, back office, CRM, and client reporting. Gary has expertise with technical infrastructure, operational risk, business continuity, SOX compliance, SSAE16 certification, vendor management, and cloud services.

Prior to joining Harvard Partners, he was the Chief Technology Officer at Batterymarch Financial Management, Inc. and GMO LLC where he was responsible for IT leadership and technical strategy for high computational and data-intensive quantitative asset management environments. Gary also held senior technology positions at Santander Global Advisors and Baring Asset Management.

Education: Gary studied Management Information Systems at Northeastern University.

Steve Walsh is a Managing Partner at Harvard Partners. Steve has been a career business leader for companies such as Hewlett Packard, EMC, Centerstone Manhattan Software, ClearEdge Partners, and Alliance Consulting.

Prior to joining Harvard Partners Steve was the worldwide leader for the Storage Consulting practice at Hewlett Packard. In this role, Steve was responsible for more than 500 employees encompassing sales, pursuit, portfolio, and delivery. Under Steve’s stewardship Storage Consulting built offerings to help clients assess and design complex storage infrastructures and develop state-of-the-art backup, recovery, and business continuance strategies. Steve grew the Storage Consulting Practice at HP by over 200% and introduced 20 new value-added offerings.

In addition to Hewlett Packard Steve has worked for companies both large and small. At ClearEdge Partners Steve advised C-level Fortune 500eExecutives on their IT purchasing and supply chain strategies, saving his clients millions over his tenure. Steve also has been a business leader at Alliance Consulting, where he built a practice to more than 200 consultants and 10 strategic offerings. Steve started his career at EMC Corporation from 1986 to 1998.

Education: Boston College School of Management, Computer Science

Matt Ferm is a F ounder and Managing Partner of Harvard Partners. Matt’s focus is on IT Assessments, IT Governance, and Program Management. Prior to Harvard Partners, Matt spent 17 years with Wellington Management Company, LLP. As an Associate Partner and Director of Enterprise Technologies, Matt was responsible for managing the global physical computing infrastructure of this financial services firm. This includes data centers, servers, voice and data networks, desktops, laptops, audio/video hardware, messaging (email, IM, etc.), security administration, disaster recovery, production control, monitoring, market data services, storage systems, and capacity planning.

During his career at Wellington, Matt managed the Operational Resilience, Resource Management, Systems Engineering, IT Client Services, and IT Strategic Development groups, chaired the firm’s Year 2000 efforts and was a member of the firms IS Priorities Committee, Project Review Committee (Chair), Systems Architecture Committee (Chair), Year 2000 Committee (Chair), Operational Resilience Committee, Incident Review Committee and Web Oversight Committee.

Prior to joining Wellington Management in 1992, Matt served as Director of Financial Services Markets for Apollo Computer, Hewlett-Packard, and Oki Electric where he managed the marketing of Unix workstations to the Financial Services industry. In 1985, Matt was Manager, New Business Development for Gregg Corporation (now IDD/Dow Jones/SunGard), a small investment database software company. Matt got his start in 1981 on Wall Street, working in the Custody Department of Bankers Trust and the MIS department of E.F. Hutton. Matt received his BA in Economics from Queens College, the City University of New York in 1982, and is a member of the Society for Information Management.

Education: Queens College, City University of New York – BA in Economics

Jason Young is a Senior Technical Recruiter at Harvard Partners and has more than 13 years of experience in recruiting and talent acquisition. Jason’s focus is on leading recruiting efforts and ensuring expectations are met or exceeded between our client’s needs and our candidate’s experience to deliver. Throughout his career, he’s filled immediate needs with high-level IT and business professionals. He also developed sourcing strategies and built strong relationships with IT specialists, leaders, and executives in a variety of industries.

Prior to joining Harvard Partners in 2018, Jason had a successful career with Advantage Technical Resourcing, (formerly TAC Worldwide Companies). He began his career in IT Staffing with Advantage as a Sourcing Recruiter, finding top-tier candidates for the Sr. Recruiters. He quickly advanced to be the sole recruiter of a national high-volume staffing program. His accomplishments with this program led to him being an MSA recruiter for a large global enterprise client. He provided them with a wide range of talent for more than five years.

Education: Bachelor’s of Arts, Psychology, Framingham State University

Lisa Brody is the Talent Operations Manager at Harvard Partners and her focus is on managing the recruiting practice. Lisa has over 30 years of experience in recruiting and talent acquisition. She has successfully brought top-tier Information Technology and Business Professionals to our clients, with a purpose, to fill immediate needs as well as, create an ongoing strategy to find IT specialists, leaders, and executives in a variety of industries.

Prior to joining Harvard Partners in 2016, Lisa reveled in an accomplished career with Advantage Technical Resourcing, (formerly TAC Worldwide Companies) from the rise of the organization, serving in several specialized recruiting and talent management roles. She was a lead MSA recruiter for large global enterprise clients for over a decade, providing a wide range of talent. Throughout her advancement, she has consistently, cultivated a strong reputation among candidates and clients for competency, professionalism, and results.

Education: Massachusetts Bay Community College, Wellesley, MA Associate of Science, Retail Management

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• Back to Enterprise performance management: an eye on performance
• EPM lessons for the finance team

Enterprise performance management case study

Holger lindner, cfo, explains his company's transformation of budgeting, planning and forecasting activity, rolling forecasts .

At TÜV SÜD we want to be able to look forward with more confidence, to understand the trajectory of the business and if you like 'cast a shadow' of our targets for the proceeding years out to 2020 and to 2025.

We continue to recognise some of the traditional shortcoming of the traditional budgeting process, which is why as a business we are transitioning to rolling forecasts.

TÜV SÜD's current budget essentially forms its one year detailed operating plans which is linked to the strategic plan. One driver behind the transition to rolling forecasts was the desire of the company to move from absolute targets to relative targets. They are aspirational but also at the same time realistic with a decent amount of 'stretch'. This puts a different frame and context on the planning process across the business.

Challenges in the budgeting process

Findings from the ACCA/KPMG work highlighted how traditional budgeting and planning process is under pressure. Too often plans and forecasts have been too financially focused and not tied into the real business drivers in the organisation.

Like many organisations, TÜV SÜD's historic approach to planning and budgeting has suffered from two key challenges:

Reducing the complexity of the process and the information required.  Ultimately great planning, budgeting and forecasting should be a really useful tool for commercial decision making, it has to be agile and informative enough for the organisation to take corrective actions in a timely manner. Companies need a process which is well governed has clear accountability and where individuals can be incentivised around aspects of the process which are in their control. Planning and budgeting must be kept as simple as possible. 

Collaboration: historically the finance team has been part of the planning process.  However, it was never entirely connected to the wider business planning process to be effective. We are now on a journey to much better integrated business planning across the organization that joins together the different planning and forecasting activities. Finance has a huge role to play in facilitating this greater integration but we also need advocacy and support from the top across the business. 

You need to get leadership buy in for enterprise performance management (EPM) to be truly successful.

Evolving KPIs

Performance reporting process also continues to evolve at TÜV SÜD with an emphasis on ‘less is more’. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) have been reasonably well aligned to the strategic objectives of the business.

However, like many organisations, the business has probably had too many and that has hindered driving the accountability the company wanted. Now KPIs are not fixed to absolute targets instead the company is making them more focused and sharper in a bid to improve performance. 

We call these dynamic improvement targets and they are essential to driving our business forward. Linked to KPIs we are also continuing to evolve the different ‘dimensions’ on which we report our performance.

Historically our performance reporting was typically focused on products and services but increasingly we are moving to much clearer reporting on customers and specifically exploring reporting initiatives in terms of customer segmentation.

But there is more work done. One key area is customer analysis. TÜV SÜD knows which is its most profitable customers but it does not necessarily always know the attributes and characteristics that make them so. 

Businesses should think carefully about KPIs ensuring that they are aligned, driving visibility over profitability and costs across different ‘dimensions’ but be careful not to over engineer this.

Data governance

An important element of EPM is building better internal management reporting. The first step is to have good data. That means data is consistent; has integrity; is accurate, timely and aligned to KPIs This is achieved through strong data governance.

TÜV SÜD says it has looked at Centres of Excellence models that can drive standardisation, timeliness, and sustainable control over report production. Critically such a model also frees up precious finance business partnering resources allowing them to focus on actionable proposals for the business.

Centres of Excellence are economically efficient and support greater specialism allowing time to be spent on value-added commercial insight. 

Encouraging the right behaviours for finance business partners to succeed is particularly important here – they have to walk a fine line between being independent but partnering and collaborating with the business too.

One business partnering challenge is to understand what data the business needs to make decisions. Sometimes the business knows what it doesn’t need, but doesn’t always understand what it does need.

Finance Business Partners have a key role to play in helping articulate this need so that they provide more focused analysis to the business to help them make better decisions. It often means working on a smaller but more relevant data set.

Technology helps data analysis providing informed and timely decision-support. 

What finance should report on

Performance management reporting can risk over reporting Think about the 80-20 rule – trying to report 100% on everything is too time-consuming and non-value adding for the finance team and for the business. Be clear on what matters in your organisation, the activities that are important and that drive value. Focus your reporting around these to drive better decision making.

Culturally it is a big step for finance to report on 'less' and so it is difficult to instill this discipline but it is incredibly important.

• Back to enterprise performance management

Key elements in driving improvements in EPM:

1. Ensure support from leadership across the business 2. Recognise the importance of consistent and accurate data 3. Drive collaborative processes and ways of working. Finance team have a huge role to play in facilitating moving away from silo-based thinking; 4. Build effective finance business partnering capabilities 5. Think about the appropriate models and operating structures to support the provision of better insight 6. Ensure KPIS are focused and relevant to value-driving activities.

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Creating timeless software: How Software AG has remained relevant in the new age of AI

by Mark Albertson

The year Software AG was founded provided two watershed moments in the future growth and direction of the technology industry.

It was 1969, and IBM Corp. announced in June that it would begin pricing its software and services separately from its hardware, laying the groundwork for an emergence of the modern software consulting industry. One month later, U.S. astronauts walked on the moon , a validation that technology could achieve what was once unthinkable.

Software AG, started that year in Germany by six young employees of the Institute of Applied Information Processing, has emerged as a multinational software business that provides enterprise tools for business process management, integration and big data analytics. For more than five and a half decades, the company has shown that it can adapt to the shifting tides of an industry that never stands still.

“Software AG continues to remain relevant by modernizing its legacy technology while moving into new growth areas,” said Paul Gillin , research analyst for theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. “The company’s Adabas database management system and Natural development language still have large installed bases, but the company’s growth has shifted to Aris business process management software, which, incidentally, has also been around for more than three decades but is just as relevant today as ever.”

Gillin was on the ground in Dublin, Ireland, for Software AG’s International User Groups Conference in April and spoke with key executives from the company and customers in exclusive interviews about the latest product enhancements for data integration, process management, artificial intelligence and internet of things orchestration for enterprises around the world. (* Disclosure below.)

Software AG Aris plays central role in business optimization

Software AG’s lengthy history in the process management arena has given the company a different perspective on software and its role in enabling enterprise applications. The firm invented its flagship Aris product in 1992, and Aris grew to become a tool used by enterprises for the documentation, design, analysis, assessment and optimization of key processes for running a business.

“When you talk about legacy, I talk about timeless software,” said Stefan Sigg , chief product officer of Software AG, during his conversation with theCUBE . “When software has been around a long time, it becomes timeless and it doesn’t matter anymore how old it is. My favorite example is Microsoft Excel; it’s been around for almost 40 years, but nobody is calling Excel a legacy. Nobody calls Software AG’s Aris legacy. It’s there to keep all those super mission-critical custom applications that were built on top of this technology running because they carry the company. That is what we are doing.”

During the International User Groups Conference in Dublin, Software AG enhanced its Aris process mining and Alfabet portfolio management products with generative AI. By leveraging Microsoft Corp.’s Azure OpenAI, Software AG is now providing the capability to depict existing processes and identify anomalies through the use of graphic formats.

“We continue to innovate … we can use AI to make Aris much more productive where you don’t have to dig into the data so much, but the AI is telling you what’s wrong,” Sigg said. “We mine the data, reconstruct the business processes and have key performance indicators attached to each and every instance. AI creates the summary without a human being needing to spend hours and hours analyzing each process instance.”

Earlier this year, Software AG released a study that identified a common challenge fueled by rapid expansion of technology within many enterprises. Results showed that 89% of organizations rapidly expanded technology over the course of several years, and more than three quarters or 76% indicated that this resulted in increased chaos to be managed. Over 40% pointed to the challenge of managing legacy and new systems together as a key factor in heightened complexity.

“The cloud is promising to make everything easier, but at least in an intermediate time, it’s making things much more complex because no company on this planet is making a 100% shift from being on-premises one day to the cloud,” Sigg explained. “Then there are SaaS services running somewhere and maybe edge cases where I have infrastructure and software running on a factory shop floor. These are four different things that I have to integrate. That is building complexity that you cannot avoid. It’s a question of managing that complexity with state-of-the-art integration software, IoT software, process management software and IT portfolio management software.”

Here’s theCUBE’s complete video interview with Stefan Sigg:

Use cases highlight support for migration and strategic planning

Migration of IT systems to a new platform is not only a complex process, it can also cripple a business dependent on enterprise resource planning and management functions necessary for smooth operation. Add on the sudden impact of a worldwide global COVID-19 pandemic, and this is the scenario that one Software AG customer found itself facing in 2020.

Celulose Nipo-Brasileira S.A., or Cenibra, is a major Brazilian producer of bleached eucalyptus pulp used for making paper and cardboard products. The company designed a plan to upgrade its legacy ERP system to SAP S/4HANA as a key step toward a modern IT infrastructure. Yet with the entire migration team having to work remotely when the upgrade began during the pandemic, the challenges were significant, according to  Ronaldo Neves Ribeiro , IT and telecom manager at Cenibra, in his interview on theCUBE .

“It was a huge problem,” Ribeiro said. “We’d never managed projects remotely, but the directors decided to continue. It was planned and completed in 13 months with 178 people. It was the first S/4HANA migration in the world done completely remotely.”

Here’s theCUBE’s complete video interview with Ronaldo Neves Ribeiro:

Announcements made during the conference included news that Software AG would enhance Alfabet 11 , the company’s portfolio of management products, to provide process mining functionality for the IT landscape. New features included a Smart Data Workbench for customizing information displays, Data Quality rules that set parameters for acceptable quality and the application of reasoning-based AI to reduce product configuration effort.

The latest enhancements for Alfabet offered the British financial advisory company St. James Place PLC an opportunity to fine-tune its planning strategy.

“What we find that Alfabet brings for us is it has the ability for us to capture those high-level corporate strategic goals,” said Ian Batty , head of the Office of Architecture at St. James Place, in conversation with theCUBE . “Alfabet supports two distinct areas of usage, which is the enterprise architecture tool and the strategic portfolio management. I’m particularly focused on strategic portfolio management, and that means identifying where to spend your money, how much money you’ve got, what are the priorities you’ve got as a company.”

Here’s theCUBE’s complete video interview with Ian Batty:

Growing complexity of IT environments has fueled interest in Software AG and its portfolio of process management solutions. The company was the subject of acquisition interest last year when the private equity firm Silver Lake competed with Rocket Software Inc. for a majority stake. Silver Lake prevailed and took the company private last fall. Since then, Software AG has sold its StreamSets and webMethods business to IBM Corp.

While Silver Lake has taken an approach to sell off some of Software AG’s assets, the company’s core business remains the same. The firm’s business process management software continues to attract major clients, a sign that despite the rapid pace of change today, enterprises will always need to optimize functions to remain successful.

“Processes are really at the heart of the organization, it’s the DNA of the organization,” said Josèphe Blondaut , head of ARIS product marketing at Software AG, during an interview with theCUBE . “It’s really about learning to learn, creating a culture of optimization and a culture of overall thinking, not thinking only in the specific silo you are working in. In the end, a company that looks at the processes, that looks at the operation will gain some kind of a learning success.”

Here’s theCUBE’s complete video interview with Josèphe Blondaut:

To watch more of theCUBE’s coverage of the International User Groups Conference , here’s our complete event video playlist:

Watch theCUBE’s full coverage of the International User Groups Conference event here:

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the International User Groups Conference. Neither Software AG, the sponsor of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

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Netflix says users of subscription plan with ads hit 40 million

NETFLIX said monthly active users of its advertising-supported subscription plan reached 40 million, and that it will launch an in-house ad technology platform to support this growing part of its business.

The number of users rose from five million a year ago, Amy Reinhard, the company’s president of advertising, said on Wednesday (May 15) in New York where Netflix was presenting its future programming lineup to potential sponsors. Ad-plan subscribers amount to over 40 per cent of the sign-ups in the countries that offer the plan. The company has 270 million subscribers overall.

Netflix is working to make ad sales a major new revenue component – and bringing the technology in-house to increase its ability to manage the business. Having its own platform will let the company offer sponsors new ways to buy ads as well as measure their effectiveness.

In the coming months, Netflix will expand its buying capabilities to additional online advertising companies. The Trade Desk, Google Display & Video 360 and Magnite will join Microsoft in facilitating automated ad purchases.

For measurement and verification the company is working with Affinity Solutions, DoubleVerify, iSpotTV, Kantar, Nielsen and others.

The ad technology developments follow the company’s announcement earlier Wednesday that it will air two National Football League games on Christmas Day as part of a three-season deal.

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The streaming industry leader has been experimenting with live programming for the past year as a way to broaden the entertainment options for its customers and create appealing properties for advertisers. Sports is the most valuable live programming in the world.

Netflix launched its ad-supported plan in 12 markets in November 2022. It’s a big part of the company’s plans to generate new revenue sources as the streaming business has matured. Netflix’s ad-supported tier costs US$7 a month in the US, less than half the price of its standard plan.

As part of the presentation to advertisers, the company announced several sports-related programmes, including shows about gymnast Simone Biles, Olympics basketball and a Dallas Cowboys docuseries. BLOOMBERG

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The Possible Collapse of the U.S. Home Insurance System

A times investigation found climate change may now be a concern for every homeowner in the country..

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Across the United States, more frequent extreme weather is starting to cause the home insurance market to buckle, even for those who have paid their premiums dutifully year after year.

Christopher Flavelle, a climate reporter, discusses a Times investigation into one of the most consequential effects of the changes.

On today’s episode

Christopher Flavelle , a climate change reporter for The New York Times.

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As American insurers bleed cash from climate shocks , homeowners lose.

See how the home insurance crunch affects the market in each state .

Here are four takeaways from The Times’s investigation.

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Christopher Flavelle contributed reporting.

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Christopher Flavelle is a Times reporter who writes about how the United States is trying to adapt to the effects of climate change. More about Christopher Flavelle

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