Building a Business Case For Your New Software

1. Building a
business case
for your new
software
Whitepaper

2. Whitepaper
Building a business case for your new software
How do you know if your
Software needs upgrading?
What to do if your business
software needs updating??
Considerations prior to building
your business case
Assessing your needs in an
organisational context:
Investing in new software or
upgrading your existing system is
a decision that will normally require
the buy in and authorisation of your
senior management team. The
expense of this investment is normally
the main contributory factor for such
requests being turned down. To be
able to counter these responses, and
ensure that you are best prepared,
there are a number of areas that
should be included in your proposal.
It is also imperative that you look at
a number of other factors to ensure
that your organisation is ready for
change prior to starting to put your
business case together.
To ensure maximum return on
investment, it is important to think
about the implications of introducing
new technology into your business.
• Your current systems are not
fulfilling your requirements.
• Confirm the long term strategy and
objectives of the business.
• Decide on the type and level
of change required by your
organisations in the short, medium
and long term.
• Define how the business functions
will assist in meeting these
objectives.
• Review the functionality and
benefits available within the
upgrade version of the software
with your Business Partner.
• Align the functionality with the
internal support required to insure
the business meets its aims and
objectives.
• Discuss the benefits, potential
ROI and assess the impact
the new version will have for
your organisation with your key
stakeholders and Business Partner.
• Conclude your overall findings by
undertaking an initial cost benefit
analysis and decide whether to
recommend that a formal business
case it put together.
To do this you must look at and
understand your organisation’s
strategy and objectives and how the
business is looking to change and
develop in the future.
It can be difficult to measure the
impact that can be made from
introducing a more automated
system. Quantifying cost or time
savings, increased service and
efficiency levels, or the impact of
accurate and timely communication
before installation can be hard.
For this reason before starting on any
project you must understand, the
key areas and issues that you want
to address and how a new system
can help your business achieve
and support its long term aims and
objectives.
A new piece of software does not
make change happen alone, it’s also
important to look at how it will align
with your Finance strategy, IT strategy
and overall business strategy. Gaining
buy-in from key stakeholders will be
instrumental going forward so it is
important to establish this as soon as
possible.

3. Whitepaper
Building a business case for your new software
Why prepare a business case?
Key areas to consider when building your business case
It is important to prepare a business
case, to give stakeholders and
decision makers an overview of
current systems and processes. This
will provide you with the opportunity
to outline deficiencies in current
systems and processes and assess
the impact that this has on the wider
business. In addition the business
case will allow you to demonstrate
and present quantifiable benefits and
savings from purchasing or upgrading
a system. This will assist you in
securing budget and commitment
from your senior management team.
In addition to the information collated from your assessment you will need to
consider the following key areas when putting together your business case:
• Provide an overview of your current system, its limitations, and how an
enhanced system will facilitate the delivery of business aims and objectives.
• How additional software functionality will improve cost-saving and
efficiencies, and assist the organisation in delivering its aims and objectives.
• The effect a new or upgraded system will have on areas such as
automating processes, operations efficiencies, control costs and customer
service.
• How a new system will impact on the processes and roles across the
organisation as a whole.
• Address the short term impact of implementing a new system on your
team and any other identified barriers to gaining approval from the senior
management team.
• Demonstrate the benefits of upgrading your current systems and provide
return on investment calculations to justify the expenditure.
It is important that throughout the process you regularly communicate and
involve all key users/stakeholders. Including stakeholders from across the
business will help to give you a holistic view of how the software can be
adopted company-wide.

4. Whitepaper
Building a business case for your new software
How to justify your business case
Financial benefits
Non-financial benefits
And finally…
At first glance it may appear difficult
to justify the financial spend of
investing in a new system. It is in fact
quite easy to quantify the savings that
can be made to the business. For
example:
Non-financial benefits have an
equally important role in ensuring that
organisation profits are maintained.
For example:
Adopting a strategic approach to
your business case will allow you
to demonstrate organisational wide
benefits rather than just the impact a
new system will have on your team.
By adopting this approach it is more
likely to result in your project gaining
approval.
• By automating routine processes,
time spent on administrative
tasks and manual procedures are
significantly reduced, meaning
productivity and service levels will
be improved.
• With the need for manual
processing removed employees
will be able to spend more time on
strategic activities that will make a
real difference to performance and
business objectives.
• Reinvesting the time saved from
automating processes can impact
dramatically on departmental
operations which directly affect the
bottom line, such as:
º Establishing areas for
improvement and putting
measures in place that can
reduce resource levels and
overheads.
º Having integrated systems can
save vast amounts of time not
having to re-key information.
• Recording and reporting on
targets, efficiency and retention
levels will be clearer and easier,
helping you to understand your
employees, customers and
business.
• Implementing a new system will
also give your team the opportunity
to check and cleanse data
ensuring that it is accurate and up
to date.
• By re-investing time and reviewing
strategic areas problems can
be identified, addressed and
improvements made. These
measures can have organisational
wide benefits such as improving
morale, motivation, retention,
productivity etc.
• Upgrading your software will
ensure that it is running on the
latest technology – older software
is built on earlier versions of
both the operating system and
database. It is important to check
that they are both commercially
available, as if you encounter
hardware issues this could prove
an expensive, unbudgeted issue.
Should you require any assistance
when putting your business case
together please do not hesitate to
contact one our specialists who will
be more than happy to assist you.

5. Call us on
0845 111 9988
or email us
customer.develoment@sage.com
Sage (UK) Limited
North Park
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE13 9A A
T 0845 111 9988
E customer.develoment@sage.com
www.sage.co.uk/erp
Registered in England No. 1045967 and with its registered office at
North Park, Newcastle upon Tyne NE13 9AA
© Sage (UK) Limited 2012 07/12