Business Value Advisory Services

IT Business Case Consulting Assessments

We conduct highly credible business value studies to assist IT purchasers in understanding the qualitative and financial implications (ROI) of technology-enabled investments. Engagements typically include: assessment of the existing customer environment (maturity levels) and the proposed solution; identification and quantification of costs, benefits, and risks; financial analysis (cash flow, ROI, etc.); and development of the business case. HCR has conducted many strategic high-profile business value studies.  HCR has influenced over $100 million in IT investments.

Business Value Assessment Types 

Business Value Study Potential Scope

• Situation assessment, including current practices, issues, needs, objectives, etc.
• Solution assessment
  • Analysis of solution feature/capability needs
  • Pre-requisites capabilities (e.g. infrastructure, skills, etc.)
  • Likely feature adoption
• Maturity (best practice) assessment, including assessment of solution impact on maturity levels
• Quantification of solution costs and benefits (see below for details)
• TCO analysis, including current TCO and TCO changes due to the solution
• KPIs assessment:  impact of the solution on key performance indicators
• Benefits will be linked to their enabling technology features/capabilities
• Deployment planning:  implementation method, strategy, & timing
• Risk assessment
  • Identification of risks
  • Quantification of mitigation and remediation costs
• Financial Analysis
  • Total costs and benefits by type
  • Cash flow analysis
  • Payback period, ROI, NPV, IRR

Typical Deliverables

• Excel workbook
  • Contains all inputs, assumptions, calculations, and results
  • Model inputs can be traced to the source of the data/estimates
  • Workbook can be modified and reused by the customer
• Research/data collected
  • Research used to support analysis
• Results presentation - with detailed appendices
  • 1-2 hour presentation
  • 30-40 slide presentation
• Final report (Business case)
  • Provides additional explanations of information in the results presentation
  • 15-25 pages

Typical Methodology and Tools Used

Our methodologies are based on industry-standard best practice techniques/analysis/tools; are as transparent and objective as possible; and leverage existing 3rd party research from Gartner, IDC, Forrester, Wipro, etc to enhance credibility.  All methods/calculations be based on standard industry best practices

• Spreadsheet tools developed by HCR
• Output of other 3rd party tools (Gartner, WiPro, Forrester, Alinean, etc.) may also be used as appropriate
• Results of prior studies and other 3rd party research (IDC, Gartner, Forrester, scholarly, books, etc.) will be referenced whenever possible to support estimates and enhance accuracy of results
• Survey/questionnaire – used to assess the current customer environment
• Maturity models are often used to assess opportunities to enhance value by adopting best practices

Typical Assessment Activities

Costs (the investment)
All one-time and on-going costs required to implement/deploy, adopt, maintain, and support the solution(s)

IT Labor TCO (Total Cost of Ownership)
Annual on-going/recurring labor and services required to support and maintain the "as-is" (current or status quo) and "to-be" (after the solution is deployed) environment

Benefits
Direct and Indirect benefits enabled by the initiative -- the "return" part of ROI

Non-Financial KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)
Below are some KPIs that are frequently quantified in HCR economic justifications: