Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
Last time I looked at 4 soft benefits that go into project business cases and are a factor in project selection. They were:
- Increased customer satisfaction
- Improved brand awareness
- Better staff morale
- Improved processes.
Today I’ll look at another 4. You may be able to include these in your next project proposal alongside the financial measures and with any luck they will help get your project approved.
1. Increased user satisfaction
Customers are one thing, but it also pays to improve the experience for internal users. So if you are designing software for use in-house or for clients, improving their satisfaction with the product will be a significant project benefit.
Project selection should take this into account as (generally) happier users are more productive and are more likely to stick to the processes. If the products they are using are not easy to navigate, they will find ways around the processes in order to make their lives easier. This negates any benefits the software or process is designed to offer. In my experience, going outside the process means that data isn’t collected in a standard way so any measures are incorrect. Many user satisfaction improvements could be done to systems to improve data collection and make it less obtrusive for users – a better experience for them and a better standard of management information for others, so everyone benefits.
2. Improved corporate image
Improving brand awareness is one thing, but what if everyone thinks your brand doesn’t represent value for money? Or that it is not socially responsible? Some projects are designed to improve the image of your brand and while these won’t directly impact the bottom line they could result in more sales or a brand that is ‘worth’ more.
3. Increased safety
Safety measures at work normally cost money, so health and safety projects can find it difficult to justify the investment. But how do you put a price on the health and safety of workers? Projects that implement new measures or better processes that will help avoid accidents are essential in some cases.
And they do indirectly contribute financially: lower insurance premiums, fewer sick days so better staff productivity, better staff morale from knowing they are with a responsible employer and fewer court cases, one would hope. But putting a financial measure on this can be difficult: your finance department may have some models that will help, but otherwise it’s probably best to leave this as an intangible project benefit unless you can categorically link it to a financial figure.
4. Meeting regulation
As I mentioned in a footnote last time, sometimes projects are done for no financial benefit at all because change is required to meet new regulations. There isn’t much decision making involved in project selection when it comes to regulatory projects because you have to do them. You could make the link to financial benefits such as reduced risk of being fined by your industry watchdog, but in reality you are going to do the project anyway, so there isn’t any need to spend hours working out the financial figures – just get to work on the project!
Project selection processes differ from company to company depending on what your business considers important. For some it will be to make tactical changes, for others project choice will be limited by the resources available or by corporate strategy or by the technology available to support projects. All project selection should consider the chance that the project will be successful: there really is no point kicking off a piece of work that has very little chance to succeed as this is simply a waste of resources and time.
Selecting projects effectively, even if the business case is made up of ‘soft’ benefits, will ultimately benefit the firm financially as it means project teams will not be tied up working on initiatives that are wasteful, not a good fit for business strategy and that won’t contribute to the company. Pick your projects with care and use your project time wisely!
Posted on: April 21, 2014 06:48 AM |
Permalink