The document discusses the cost of doing nothing versus making changes or improvements. It argues that doing nothing is not actually free, as there are current state costs as well as future state costs if improvements are not made. To calculate the cost of doing nothing, one should estimate the future state costs if no changes are made and subtract the current state costs to get the total cost of inaction. Areas that contribute to the costs include software, services, staff time and productivity losses, tools, and downtime from older systems. Tracking both hard costs like licenses and soft costs like salaries and benefits over time can help demonstrate that improvements will save money in the long run despite any initial expenses.

1. THE COST OF DOING NOTHING
Suzanne Mescan, Vasont Systems

2. doing nothing

5. doing nothing = procrastination?

7. doing nothing isn’t free

8. what it will cost later
(future state costs)
- what it costs now
(current state costs)
______________________________________
= cost of doing nothing
Car repair:
$300 - $5 = $295

9. $5
$300
$0
$50
$100
$150
$200
$250
$300
$350
Today
Future
Costofdoingnothing=$295

10. doing nothing = status quo

12. “it’s the way we’ve always done it”

13. “it’s the way we’ve always done it”

14. are you still doing it
the way you’ve always done it?

15. is your content here?

16. better. faster. cheaper.

17. paradigm shift

18. incompatible file formats

19. quality issues

20. lost files

21. too many versions

22. high translation costs

23. once and done: reuse

24. automation

25. process management

26. to move or not to move?

27. you’ve got great ideas

28. [boss’s response]:
“We can’t spend any money right now.
The way we are doing it
is working fine… and it’s free.
We’ll do it next year.”

29. …but you ARE spending money
right now

30. $ your salary $
$$ your benefits $$
$$$ your productivity $$$
$$$$ the tools you use $$$$
…

31. prove it…
present the cost of doing nothing

32. what it will cost later
(future state costs)
- what it costs now
(current state costs)
______________________________________
= cost of doing nothing

33. hard costs
(things you get a bill for)
• software license or SaaS/cloud fees
• software maintenance fees
• outsourced services
• writing
• translations
• data conversion
• training
• consulting
• IT

34. soft costs
(things that cost money that you don’t get a bill for)
• average salary costs
• overhead costs
• your benefits
• allocated costs for management, sales, HR, marketing,
accounting, operations, etc.
• number of staff
• time spent on each task
• time spent on support calls from quality issues
• charge backs for internal services (ex. IT)
• downtime from older systems

35. measure today…

36. …and predict the future…

37. …and then subtract
what it will cost later
(future state costs)
- what it costs now
(current state costs)
______________________________________
= cost of doing nothing

38. make (and use) friends

39. learn the ropes

40. get in front of the people
who matter most

41. speak their language

42. continually measure
and prove success

43. final thoughts…
• You are not free. Your current methods aren’t free.
• If it costs more long-term to do nothing now than to do
something, then it’s worth the move.
• Higher costs followed by years of lower costs will benefit
the company in the long run.
• Don’t forget growth…get ready to do more with the same
resources in the future.
• Talk to the right people to get your budget.
• Continually measure and prove success.

44. THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING
Suzanne Mescan, Vasont Systems
smescan@vasont.com