How to Make a Strong Case for IT Service Management ROI

More than perhaps any other department, IT still has difficulty proving the potential ROI for IT service management, and indeed, any IT related expenditure. Sometimes the monetary return on investment is far removed from the expenditure, making it hard to prove to executives what the real value or potential value is. Here is your guide to making your case for IT service management (which also works for convincing executives of the ROI on any of your proposed IT expenditures like ITSM software).

Do Your Homework

Start the process with thorough and comprehensive research. There are several types of research you can do, and many of the metrics you need might already be available in your feedback or customer surveys. Gather data like user surveys, focus groups, interviews with clients or users, and testimonials that illustrate the need for your IT investments. Before presenting the information to executives, you’ll need to be able to illustrate who will benefit from it and how those benefits will be realized.

Present How It Provides Value to the Organization

Once you collect the data, you’ll want to process it to show how the expenditure will benefit the organization. There are numerous ways to show how IT service management or other IT expenditures provide real and meaningful value to the organization. For example:

• How it saves time
• How it saves money
• How it generates revenue
• How it can assist in better decision making
• How it can improve the organization’s competitiveness
• How it can reduce the time it takes products to get to market
• How it can help the organization avoid risk
• How it can improve customer relations
• How it can improve employee productivity
• How it can improve employee job satisfaction
• How it can reduce errors

List any and all benefits, whether quantitative or qualitative, that can help make your case.

Consider Different Ways to Show the Benefits

Different executives respond differently to different arguments. Some are focused heavily on metrics, while others can see the benefits of non-quantitative ROI, such as improvements in employee job satisfaction or customer relations. Before assimilating all of the data, be sure you:

• Calculate accurately — don’t fudge on how much the expenditure can generate in terms of revenue or savings.
• Use a large enough sample of users or customers to constitute a statistically relevant sample.
• Include the sources where you got the data.
• State any assumptions you made along the way about users or clients.

Present the Information in a Way Best Received By Management

The visual presentation of your ROI analysis is paramount. Determine whether the executives at your organization prefer information presented in detail on spreadsheets or in a PowerPoint presentation, be sure that the information is organized in a way that is visually appealing, easy to understand, and summarized adequately for quick review.