The Doppler Quarterly Spring 2018 | Page 33

Business Case? We Don’t Need No Stinking Business Case A business case justification would seem to apply to most, if not all, investment decisions, but there are definitely situations where the business case will not be the overarching consideration. Consider regulatory/compliance requirements. For example, food products and medicines need to be maintained within defined environmental parame- ters, or they may be subject to reduced shelf life, at best, or be deemed a dan- ger, at worst. Or look at safety and risk management solutions. Does your plant operate in a dangerous environment? What does it mean to your employees (not to mention your shareholders and insurers) to deploy solutions that will keep them safe? Ironically, some safety solutions, even where cost is no object, can still have a business case made on the basis of reduced insurance premiums, increased productivity and happier employees. There may also be considerations around the need to create new services and/ or provide better customer service. Here the justification will come from strengthening the brand, building trust and demonstrating core values. A Path Forward and Avoiding “Analysis Paralysis” By now, we trust that you have bought into the need for a business case, and we suspect you are beginning to think through whether or not your operations are measurable, and whether or not you can establish a baseline. Many clients tell us that they have gone through significant internal thrashing and turmoil on business case development. Many have gotten stuck on the technical aspects of the problem first, and failed to have the business case ready when it was time to make the proposal to their leadership in order to proceed. The CTP team has the tools a nd experience to help you build your IoT business case while architecting and helping you build a solution that will achieve your objectives. Our lean/agile approach to developing IoT solutions can accelerate your time to market, and help you deploy outcome-based solutions with full management support. Get started on your next IoT initiative cloudtp.com/iot SPRING 2018 | THE DOPPLER | 31