Customer Reviews

Making Technology Investments Profitable: ROI Roadmap to Better Business Cases

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have heard of Jack Keen and his ROI work at notable companies like PeopleSoft and Oracle where his methodologies apparently have paid off well at those companies and at others. He has long had a web site but its exciting to see his methodologies carefully described in this book and where it is easy to understand and implement. Our sales teams have quickly come up to speed on his methodologies and his ROI tool and are now able to present more compelling business cases to prospects. Engaging prospects in lively discussions about their needs and concerns is a big part of the book and it certainly has paid off well for us as we have clearly decreased our sales cycles by better putting ourselves in our prospects' shoes and more clearly understanding their needs. The result is more effective selling!

This book was worth the price I paid for it even before I reached page 10. I've spent 15 years in the business analysis office of a major corporation funding internal projects. This book confirms what I've been doing and adds what seems to be another 15 years of experience. It organizes the process so that my job has gotten a lot easier, a lot quicker and is percieved as being fair. The book reveals successful techniques the authors have personally implemented for their cleints. These people have insight and they know what works in the real world.

I had my doubts when I started reading this book. I did not believe that intangibles could be adequately taken into account in business decisions. This book changed my mind. The book was useful in indentifying how to develop the list of intangibles, how to place a value on them, and most important of all, how to put it into the language top management responds to best. This has always been one of the missing links.

The other missing link that this book brought home to me was that including team members in collecting and calculating data is as important as the calculations themselves. Assembling credible data creates support for the project among team members and within other departments. This book provides a step-by-step approach.

I just finished reading this incredible book and will be referring to it often in the days and months to come. This is the first book I've seen that gives me the details on how to prioritize IT investments across an organization as well as how to communicate the justification for a specific project convincingly and with the maximum chance of success. Highly recommended!

I have a pile of books that address the same subject and would not have picked this one up if a colleague had not persistently badgered me into reading it. Instead of yet another tome on business cases, ROI and value, I discovered what to me is the absolute best book on the following three areas:

(1) business case development - the authors shine here by showing how to craft a realistic business case that does look at the important factors and benefits. More importantly, you're shown how NOT to write a business case, and common problems with too many business cases that are presented (and all-too-often accepted). This aspect of the book alone raises the bar in business case development.

(2) properly computing ROI that is real - in many organizations ROI is a forbidden word and NPV used instead. One reason for this is it's rarely computed correctly. Before reading this book I used ROI as a quick and dirty gage, but always looked to NPV as the deciding factor when exploring the feasibility to a project or solution. The way the authors expose fallacies of improper ROI computation, and how to avoid them is invaluable, and will restore credibility to ROI as a realistic indicator.

(3) assuring value - the VALUE-on-Demand approach the authors propose is a straightforward method for evaluating, selecting and prioritizing projects. This methodology has no flaws that I can find, and will add structure, clarity and process to governance.

Regardless of your experience, there is much to learn from this book. It can serve as a company 'how-to' guide and standard as is with little-to-no tailoring, and represents the best book I own on business case development and determining ROI. It's also one of the best books on establishing a viable governance program I've read.

Keen & Digrius have written a bible that covers a lot of ground. This excellent book is a litany of other peoples' mistakes - about a billion bucks worth of mistakes! There are checklists of do's & don'ts, many of them not obvious. It's perfectly clear from the book that flaws in project reasoning can be fixed if detected, and well-reasoned technology investments will give you a big advantage in the marketplace.

I saw Digrius speak at a Gartner symposium when she was VP at Gartner Group, and the same insight & humor she brought to the symposium sparkles throughout the book. I'd be eagerly awaiting the sequel, but I think they have already covered all the bases.

Wow, this is great! I just read the Harvard Business Review and I think this book brings out more concepts in area of TCO/ROI that were not covered in the HBR.

This book was sent to me from a friend in San Jose. She thought I would gain a basic idea of how to implement these TCO methods. Well this book is the beginning of my exploration into strategic TCO initiatives. I plan to have two or three of my senior managers read it!

As VP of Sales as a growing Enterprise Software company, I've been able to increase my price point, decrease my sales cycle and close more business. The impact was immediate. I highly recommend Jack's book to everyone involved in sales.

Superior methodologies and initiatives tied toward the ever increasing demand for ROI/TCO explanation and validation. Truly deployable real world ROI/TCO solutions covered in detail. This is a must for the VP and C level audience.