IT ROI Analysis
Determine the Value of Future Technology Initiatives With Telapprise
At Telapprise, we approach a technology ROI analysis much like contract negotiations, but instead of drilling down on terms, conditions, and contracts, we’re taking a deep dive into all the factors behind calculating an accurate technology return-on-investment (ROI) projection. The process starts by understanding why a vendor’s ROI analysis rarely provides a realistic picture for the future. Here’s how Telapprise changes that with an ROI analysis that accounts for more than anyone else in the industry.
Why an IT ROI Analysis Often Goes Wrong
You should never sign a contract with a vendor or service provider without first gauging the value a new service will add to your operations. If the benefit isn’t going to improve productivity or increase revenue on some level, it probably isn’t worth pursuing. But how do you quantify that in numbers to ensure you’re setting your organization up for future success? A technology ROI analysis with Telapprise is a perfect place to start.
If you’ve ever gotten into the contracting stage of the Technology Lifecycle of Pain, you already know that most providers include an ROI or total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis when you’re getting ready to sign the contract. If you’ve ever trusted a TCO or ROI analysis provided by the vendor, you also know that the number they provided almost always misses the mark. Why? Vendors struggle with providing a complete and accurate TCO/ROI analysis because they don’t take the time to carefully dissect and analyze what you already have. Instead, they take a quick snapshot that is designed to sell the service.
As an independent consultant, Telapprise accounts for the factors vendors would prefer to ignore, including starting with an accurate TCO analysis and accounting for service discrepancies across your existing services and providers.
Thinking About Pursuing a New Technology Initiative?
Don’t get your project off the ground until you get an accurate ROI analysis that clarifies the true value of the technology your organization is considering.
A Comprehensive Review of TCO and Technology
Any ROI analysis worth your time starts with a TCO analysis. That’s because you can’t understand if a technology initiative is going to pay for itself or even provide a return if you don’t know how much it’s going to cost from the outset. This is where most providers and vendors get it wrong, often because they won’t provide a number that makes them look bad. Since they don’t provide a realistic TCO analysis, their ROI analysis is ultimately going to miss the mark.
When that happens, you end up with a technology solution that costs more than you ever expected and isn’t sustainable. By the time you realize that, you may already have tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars invested, and turning back isn’t ideal but more often than not you have no other choice.
Telapprise ensures that doesn’t happen to you by starting with a precise TCO analysis from the outset. We account for the factors providers choose to ignore, including existing services and infrastructure capabilities, project setbacks, migration timelines, current contracts, and overlapping technology.
Why You Shouldn’t Analyze ‘Copy and Pasted’ Services to Understand TCO and Telecom
Another reason most providers’ ROI analyses are inaccurate is because they’re relying on service information “copy and pasted” from your previous providers. In the technology industry, services rarely translate uniformly, so vendors follow a best-fit line that isn’t as precise as it needs to be for an accurate analysis. They simply take the information you provide about your current technology (but be cautious because they don’t always request this information or help you find it) and stand it up against their comparable service offerings.
What does it look like when that goes wrong? We’ve seen businesses dump hundreds of thousands into testing and implementing technology that would have cost them millions of dollars more than the vendor said. Why? They would have had to completely reconfigure their existing infrastructure to accommodate the new technology—a project pitfall many vendors don’t consider because they solely focus on their product.
By trying to “copy and paste” services across providers, you ultimately fail to account for the potential problems that pop up on technology implementation and migration projects, yet are the very reason you should decide whether to move forward with a particular solution or not. The larger the undertaking, the more these inaccurate projections snowball until you end up with a technology platform that delivers loss on investment in place of return on investment.
Translate Technology Chaos Into Efficiency
If you never want to experience the ongoing frustrations of managing technology vendors again, schedule a Baseline Assessment today to take the first step.