How Do You Build a Business !

Great business cases contain objective, compelling and effective information that allows senior managers to choose the projects with the best financial returns for their organizations.

Say you want to implement an enterprise content management (ECM) system. Your business case for purchasing the system could be that it would improve customer satisfaction, reduce onsite and offsite storage costs and require less time to complete routine tasks.

But depending on your organization, the steps to build that business case could be highly structured or relatively brief. Here are a few key points to consider as you build your business case.

Build your team

Building a cross-functional team allows you to examine solutions from multiple angles. Otherwise, you run the risk of developing a solution from one particular point of view—most likely your department’s—and overlooking a better solution or important costs and benefits.

Keep your group small—no more than six people if possible—so you can efficiently work out the best solution. Include the following types of team members:

• A financial representative. Someone from Finance can help establish current costs and benefits, and make accurate projections.
• Beneficiaries. Beneficiaries feel the pain you’re trying to solve, so addressing their concerns is important. Just remember that they might not always be objective!
• Someone who works with customers. If customers feel the pain the most, or if the proposed solution will affect them, include someone who knows what they care about.
• Experts from your network. If you can’t get all the information you need from the people you work with, reach out to your network of connections, vendors and partners.