There are also times when a business case is not the right tool to use. Here are some examples:
1. When the proposal
is relatively small.
If your proposed solution costs less than one million
dollars, a business case is probably overkill.
Most opportunities that Mainstay works on are upwards of ten million
dollars.
2. When the decision
is being made in the next 30 days.
A competently prepared business case takes at least 45 days
to complete, usually longer. If you
don’t have the time to do the job right, you’re better off not doing it at all.
3. When the key data
holders are opposed to you, your company or your solution.
Unfortunately, Mainstay has had experience working with
customers who were strongly opposed to the solution being offered. In these conditions, data is withheld,
delayed and sometimes intentionally falsified.
This forces the business case to be developed using extrapolated
data. The case can then be attacked by
the opposing players, claiming it to be inaccurate.
Without at least one influential person on your side,
developing a good case and getting an open-minded hearing of it is
unlikely. Be warned: a business case
presented in this situation can actually hurt your cause.
4. When the data is
unlikely to be available.
If the customer tells you that cost information is not
available, be cautious about offering a business case. Examples include customers that have recently
done large acquisitions; decentralized multinational corporations; customers
with outsourcers who will not be participating in the business case; customers
who are under significant external pressures such as government audits,
criminal investigations and the like.
Customers with a major presence outside the US and Europe
will always have trouble getting good data.
Most countries in Asia, Africa and South America require local ownership
and control of foreign subsidiaries.
This means there is no centralized accounting or purchasing. As a result, data can be very
fragmented. Mainstay has done dozens of
studies involving Asian and South American locations and has almost never gotten good data.
5. When the true
objection is not financial.
Beware of the customer who tells you the problem is budget
approvals when it’s really something else.
You may spend months and money to create a good business case and still
not get an order. Only offer a business
case when you are certain there are no technical or cultural issues blocking
your deal.
In Mainstay’s experience, business cases are too often
overlooked as a way to make a big deal happen - and too often thrown into the
breach as a last-gasp effort to save a lost cause. A business case is a great tool for closing
business. But it needs to be used at the
right time.
That's true. Most countries in Asia, Africa and South America require local ownership and control of foreign subsidiaries. This means there is no centralized accounting or purchasing. As a result, data can be very fragmented.
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