So, you’ve seen a Laserfiche demo or one of our webinars. You are positive that it will help you solve your records management or other business problem. Convinced, you’d like to push forward. However, one hurdle remains. You haven’t convinced your boss, or her boss, or her boss, AKA the executive team.
Getting the buy-in of management is about more than budgeting for the project. An implementation that’s slated to enhance digital transformation requires more than just purchasing software. It requires an organizational culture shift and embracing the new normal. Managers and staff need to be on the same page about the substantial benefits they’ll receive at the project completion. Also, these benefits should be documented and communicated throughout the organization.
Communicate the Value
More often than not, convincing management of value comes down to an issue of communication: one where you’ve thus far been unable to explain the true value of what you’re proposing. Other times, company leaders are simply not in a position to see the result quite yet. They know what you want to do but are less sold on the “why” of it all.
Regardless, these are things that you can control with the right approach. However, it may require an adjustment from the way you’ve been doing things up to this point.
Overall, you need to make sure that you’re establishing a vision for the project that justifies the expense. No matter what type of project you’re talking about, boil everything down to the two core essentials.
Here is what we need to do
Here is what we’re going to get
As long as “what we’re going to get in return” is more beneficial and valuable than the effort required for the project itself, you have the makings of an investment justification At this point, executive buy-in is as simple as communicating those points as clearly.
It may not be totally necessary to calculate a formal ROI if you can show:
Time saved, such as increased productivity and reduction in time to complete tasks (business process automation)
Faster and more accurate information retrieval.
Time saved from reduced length or number of client service calls
Time saved automating information capture (batch scanning or forms)
Time saved from a reduced number of errors or error correction
Time saved with improved software and support meaning fewer problems to resolve
Figure Out What Moves the Needle
One additional way to get your executives’ blessing for your Laserfiche project involves figuring out what moves your particular executive team’s needle and associating everything to that concern or interest.
If cost-cutting is top-of-mind. Go into more detail about how legacy information management solutions (and all of the frustrating information silos that they create) are enormously expensive. If critical data is trapped in a single solution, it isn’t being moved freely across an enterprise. The people who need access to that insight don’t have it and they’re usually missing opportunities and making poor decisions as a result.
You may also be able to save on labor by replacing that legacy system with something new, but the new system itself would be cheaper by default. This argument is more compelling and speaks directly to the issue that your management team is focused on.
If revenue generation is a concern, point out how your new ECM project would allow you to eliminate manual tasks through automation so that employees can focus all of their attention on strategic, client-service tasks. By creating an environment where technology can execute all of those manual tasks (while also eliminating human error and unnecessary keystrokes), customer experience will be greatly improved with a seamless flow of information between systems and your customers.
The bottom line (HA!) is If you can calculate what is most important to your executives and steer the argument in that direction, you’ll have a far easier time getting everyone on board
And one more thing, Laserfiche has an excellent article here about ROI calculation. Be sure to check it out.
