cpandr Consulting can help you in assessing and deploying new communications solutions

1. Cost
Justifying
ROI for
Mobile
Solutions
Presenting a business case with a solid ROI for a mobile strategy in helping workers do
business better is sometimes difficult to do. Cost-justifying mobile solutions is not a
simple mathematical formula as there are many factors you need to include in properly
assessing mobility.
When dealing with ROI, there are the hard costs and
savings that need to be assessed. For costs, these
include the actual cost of new devices and applications
and the network and service costs in maintaining the
equipment. For savings, you also should include the
reductions in any operational or infrastructure costs
that may result including possible savings in reduced
staff.
A very important part of the ROI that should be included is the
proper costs both dollars and personnel in deploying wireless
equipment, the time and cost in properly training mobile workers
and the amount of work needed in the change management for
introducing new technology and services. In project terms, it
is the scope, time and cost of the project. It is imperative that
organizations understand that there are changes to your
work process when introducing mobile solutions and
these should be properly determined and managed.

2. It gets tricky when trying to incorporate 'soft' savings to
justify investment in mobile solutions. To be sure, there
are savings in increased productivity, improved
customer satisfaction and better data quality (reduced
human error). There is also employee satisfaction in
having the right tools available to do business when
mobile and staff retention. Some organizations have
calculated increased revenues with reducing 'dead
time' for traveling, better collaboration in working
remotely, faster decision-making and being able to reduce customer complaints faster.
But to incorporate these soft savings in an ROI might be difficult to substantiate. It's
certainly good to have this as support in your business case but it is harder to quantify.
For a sufficient ROI payback, consider 18 to 24 months as viable. There are increased
revenues and cost savings with adopting new mobile technologies into the workplace
and this has been true across vertical markets as mobility is on the rise. However, you
need a detailed business rationale for adopting mobile solutions and a detailed ROI and
business case is needed in most cases.
It is suggested that the total DNA costs (device, network
and application) be understood and included in the ROI.
The mobile devices include the physical equipment and
yearly maintenance and service costs. The network should
include all the wireless charges of the service provider
(their contracts are historically difficult to decipher but
necessary). And the application should be inclusive of
training and support. Careful analysis of all these costs will
ensure a proper ROI for your company.
At cpandr Consulting, we have experience in evaluating the true costs and savings in
deploying mobile solutions. We can also help with the qualitative analysis of what
devise, network and applications are best suited for your business. And we can manage
your deployment by assisting in the rollout with dedicated project management while
you do your business. We'd love to help wherever we can.
Reprinted with permission, cpandr Consulting
www.cpandr.blogspot.com
416 768 3874