Building a Web Content Management Business Case Part 3 of 3

One of the questions that we are often asked by our prospects is ‘how do I build a business case to support the purchase of a Web Content Management system?’ Here is a three part series on one method that could be employed. The first metric that we looked at was Revenue. The second metric evaluated was cost savings. In this final installment, we will look at the Strategic Value of a Web Content Management system and what that means to your business.

Admittedly, the strategic components will tend to be the ‘softest’ and it is often hard to attribute firm numbers to them. But these items can be the difference that leads to business case approval. The strategic components have the highest emotional attachment and they get to the heart of your company and its values. That can be very compelling for an Executive management team to consider. Mind you, if the revenue and the cost savings are not significant, then the strategic components cannot carry the business case. But if the choices are ‘doing nothing’ or ‘wait another quarter,’ the strategic items can push the decision makers to a green light.

Take a step back and consider what is important to your company. What separates you from your competition? What do you want customers and prospects to say about you? How would you like analysts and the press to portray your company?

For Open Text, we have the following strategic benefits that we are pursuing.
1. A better site will facilitate an improved customer experience which will result in increased revenue, customer satisfaction and maintenance renewal rates
2. A better site will enhance our ability to respond to the needs of the business and the latest Web 2.0 functionality as the technology will be an asset, not a liability
3. A better infrastructure will allow us to create a dynamic site that can easily change with industry trends.

These are all noble goals and hard to argue with. The problem is quantifying them to provide validity.

An improved customer experience is something that every company is seeking. How would you measure your success? One objective data point to review is what improvements other companies have seen through implementing new web content management software. Your vendor may have Customer Success Stories that provide details of a customer’s problem and the results they achieved by implementing the software. Or you can study a heat map of your current site and detail the number of clicks that it will take a visitor to get from the home page to the desired information. If you can reduce the number of clicks with a new system and smarter design, then you will have improved the customer experience. You can associate a value to the number of clicks or the visitor’s time to get a numerical value.

The improved ability to respond to the needs of the business will make your website an asset instead of a point of corporate frustration. This strategic benefit might be easy to measure. How many microsites have been spun up in the last year? More often than not, microsites are not created because they are truly necessary. They are created because a microsite can be turned up quicker than updating the www site. It is a sad but true fact for many corporate sites. If it is happening in your company, calculate the number of microsites and the cost for each one. You may have employed an external agency so you can track the invoices for solid cost metrics. Then assume that you would be able to manage all (or a portion) of the microsite requests within your new web content management system and you have yet another quantifiable metric.

The third metric will only apply to certain types of sites. There are companies who want to change their look and feel regularly to keep up with industry trends or just to stay ‘fresh’ and vibrant. For these companies, the ability to easily change templates but maintain the content and navigation will enable them to be more dynamic. To quantify this, you could calculate the number of hours spent on your current site to make a change to the look and feel to calculate your cost savings.

The numbers are definitely important, but each of these items has an emotional attachment. How much would your CEO like to brag about an exceptional customer experience or a dynamic site that is vibrant and ever-changing? These are the strategic benefits that a web content management system can provide and they are the talking points. These strategic items will be discussed around the water cooler. They will be the components celebrated at the launch party. So weave them into your business plan, quantify them as best as you can, and talk about them. Make the decision makers really want a new web content management system to take your company to the next level.

As Robert Fulghum said ““… dreams are more powerful than facts - hope always triumphs over experience.” If you can appeal to the Executive hopes and dreams, you can leave the room with a “YES.” Or in keeping with the theme of this blog, a “You betcha!”