Everything you need for the internal business case

Everything you need for the internal business case

As an organization, are you considering initiating a Salesforce Industries CPQ journey? A thorough, internal business case is an important component in the preparation. Maudy van Eldik provides valuable guidance on how to optimally set up this phase. "Pre-optimizing the business processes provides a good foundation for the final business case."

In an ideal situation, which individuals are part of the team working on the business case?

"A clear division of roles helps in preparing the business case. In practice, it works well when the organization designates a main person responsible for this phase. This is often the same person who also deals with the overall quotation process. This can be the sales manager, for example. In addition to the division of roles, involving the right colleagues is also important. Make sure there is a good reflection of technical colleagues and colleagues responsible for the business. In doing so, you ensure a situation in which all the necessary information to complete the case is available within the team. Besides paying attention to team composition, optimizing the business processes is important: the very outcome of these is the foundation for producing the business case."

How much time should be allocated for this phase?

"The time it takes to make your own business case is highly dependent on the organization. However, there are factors that generally contribute to a smooth turnaround. The aforementioned team composition reduces the chance of delay. In practice, we see that such a case can be made within a month. It also helps if the urgency is felt by the organization."

What concerns are important?

"Make sure you get all departments on board in the process. In practice, the IT department deserves attention and it is important to remove any uncertainties or resistance there. Four main issues often emerge during this dialogue, which are easy to explain from an IT standpoint. First, there may be questions surrounding data security: does the new system meet the organization's security standards? The solution provider can play a major role in clearing up any ambiguity. Second, the IT department may argue that the solution creates an additional workload. In practice, however, the opposite happens: the new solution will actually reduce the pressure on the IT department. After all, steps in the process are simplified and are less prone to errors. This has a positive impact on support requests to the IT department. In addition, the number of linked applications can often be reduced and you have to expect fewer requests for change or improvement of legacy systems in the new situation."

What other two aspects are often important to the IT department?

"A lack of financial resources can also be brought in as a discussion point. You overcome this by including IT costs - such as licenses and costs for hardware or cloud storage - in the business case. Also, actively involve the IT department in preparing the IT costs. Moreover, it makes sense to have the efficiency benefits from the business case flow back to the IT department as well. The fourth and final aspect concerns unfamiliarity with the new technology and in some cases the impression that it makes the current job redundant. You can overcome this by working with DevOps teams and making sure IT is part of that team. Putting forward a training plan and budget for the IT department often gives the conversation a positive slant. From CaseNine, we can support the creation of a solid training plan."

Are organizations on their own when creating a business case?

"When you take care of optimizing business processes, making a business case is a logical next step that is easy for the organization to oversee. Of course, we can provide support from CaseNine. This can be done using relevant tooling, but also by sharing experiences with similar cases. The final difference per organization is mainly in the product combinations. In addition to the Salesforce Industries CPQ vendor, a party like Gartner can also be involved. They can support as an independent party in setting up the business case."

Want to learn more about the real-world benefits of a CPQ solution? Read more background information here.

Maudy van Eldik

CEO & Founder

Maudy van Eldik is founder of CaseNine and CEO of the organization. In this capacity he is responsible for the overall processes, but also closely involved in the various customer projects.