February, 2008

How to Measure Application Value - Step 1

Since my living is earned through providing organizations with software application value this topic is one of great interest to me.  I’ve also stated regularly in this blog that I normally am dealing with small business.  In many cases when it comes to establishing the value of an application my clients are relying heavily on my skills in establishing application value for them.  They in most instances have recognized that there is some business process of theirs that is just not working.  This is the starting point for establishing value of an application project. Continued »

How to Measure Application Value - Part 1

When it comes to applications and the buy, build or ignore decision, one of the first considerations must be to find an answer to the question of what value the application is expected to bring forth.  That sounds simple enough, but how exactly does one measure the multiple values which any given application may be expected to provide.  On top of that, many applications once implemented can produce results which were totally unexpected.   Then of course there is always the challenge of putting A monetary value to the benefits.  All of these present challenges for both the developer organization and end customer.  So - where does one begin.

 I certainly don’t pretend to have the “answer”.  In fact, I believe, there really is no one answer for any organization, and the answers and methods used to evaluate “value” will vary from project to project.  My experience would show that sometimes the applications that prove of greatest value weren’t on anybodys radar, but were championed by someone within the organization with enough “clout” to say simply “do it!”

To set the record straight, I’m not saying here to “build it and they will come”, but I am saying that with proper consciousness to the business processes it is possible to hit a home run with an application that if analyzed early on with a “cost / benefit” analysis would fail miserably.  In following posts I intend to bring forth some of the perhaps “odd” methods I’ve been familiar with.

In the mean time, If you have anything you think should be addressed about application value — please post.

Applications, the Business and the Processes

Reading Bob Lewis’s most recent article in KJR set my head spinning with thoughts of a commoditized IT similar to that of an electric company.  What Bob Lewis refers to in his article is a recent book entitled The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google (W. W. Norton, 2008), and written by Nicholas Carr.  The very concept of IT as a commodity makes my stomach churn, as I’m sure it does with many of my associates.  Continued »