Hello again... Great question by the way!
If was an technology marketing consultant contracted by your company I would answer you last question as follows:
"Don't pay too much attention to costs and too little to benefits. Rather, forecast and compare costs over the life of a project. A proper TCO analysis often shows there is a large difference between the price of something and its long-term cost."
The quote above I found in in this old online article about total cost of ownership and return on investment:
https://www.crmbuyer.com/story/71303.html ----> TCO, ROI and the Difference Between Price and Cost- By Curt Finch, Nov 23, 2010
If I was an technology partener selling business solutions I would immediately say YES!! But OF COURSE! ($$$$$$$).. LET"S DO IT!
On the other hand, if I was a disgruntled IT employee who works like an underpaid intern (but get the job well done), I would definitely try to squeeze my voice in in some of the desicion-making team meetings; I would stress repeatedly in those meetings how to use this growing-pain opportunity to move forward.
Upon your staff agreeing to my idea, I would then ask very politely and tactfully to have your organization pay for my certifications in Adobe Enterprise Manager Experience technologies.
Then as I acuire all the necessary skills to deploy the solutions that you are seeking (and achieve the project successfully), I would quit my job, update my resume, and get hired by another prospective employer who really apprciates the value in such skills and who is willing to pay what I am happy with (at my current level of expertise).
Can you see the different angles?
This type of decisions usually involve the feedback of the head of the IT department, the VP of Operations, and the Finance Department (at a minimum); and also (very important), the feedback of all your power users (from data entry clerks, receptionists, all the way to the President of the company (or business owner).
Key ingredients to this recipe are:
1) Are all of my users struggling with the hundreds of emails and/or documents that need to be processed daily?
2) Are these documents expedited professionally to my Clients?
3) Would this initiative increase the value of our current business partners? Does it align itself with ISO 9000 quality management standards so that it elevates my business presence in relation to my competitors?
4) How can the learning curve of my staff be quantified in terms of money and the time invested ?
5) How can this initiave be quantified in terms of the money we will earn? Will I save money to my bosss and look really good if it works out the way it is advertised?
6) How long would it take to get my staff up to speed without scarificing good customer service?
7) Will the production of our current standards cease indefinitely if it doesn't work as expected ? What is my backup plan if this happen? Do we actually have such thing as a backup plan if things go bananas in the IT Department?
8 ) Would it be necessary to outsource for a business partner that is experienced in deploying this solution and willing train my staff within a reasonable pricing range? (Is volume licensing a key element here?)
9) If money is all we care about ( and on not so much about the quality), would this approach be actually cheaper to implement versus continuing to work the way we've done things all along these past 10 years? Where do we want to be next year? next 5 years?
10) What are the expectations of my customers? Can they trust the value that my organization shares with them in relation to the services they are paying for? Will they be willing to pay more if we increase the price of our service after this implementation is set in motion?
11) Would it be easy? ( Could be a YES or a NO)
12) What else needs to be upgraded to achieve a nice workflow in my workplace( free from hassles)?
13) Does this means that I will have to upgrade network equipment, and desktop computers too ?
14) Is my boss and his staff old-school? Is this what is called digital work-flow? How about if by implementing this solution we achieve digital workflow and a paperless solution?
15) How much money will I save in photocopying maintenance services (toner cartridges ,repair costs, bulk paper costs, etc.)?
16) How about marketing ourselves out there as a pioneering and a visionary company, by which everything we do is eco-friendly business practices?
.. And the checklist goes on and on. Can you see all the angles?
30
Replies
AdChoices