a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment by goobster
goobster  ·  2302 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: December 6, 2017

Business case: ("A demonstration that this idea for a new business is a good one.") You must demonstrate how your idea will make money, and where the landmines are that surround you. You are mapping a way to profitability through the minefield.

Business case: ("Making your case that buying this thing is a good idea for the company.") How much does the thing cost? How much money does it save, today, in a month, in a year, and over the 3-year life of the thing? Does it save time, as well? Whose time? How much? What could that person/people do with those extra hours you have just saved?

That's pretty much it. I do a shitload of this kind of writing, so if you wanna send the thing to me, I'm happy to take a gander and provide edits/comments/feedback.





Isherwood  ·  2301 days ago  ·  link  ·  

So I'm asking for education software and I'm having a difficult time tying it to reapply value. It's like that saying "you can't put a value in a good education," but I have to.

OftenBen  ·  2301 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Without the education you want to provide, what kind of errors can an untrained person make? How expensive are those errors? How long do they take to correct?

(Just spitballing, not sure if I'm being helpful)

Isherwood  ·  2301 days ago  ·  link  ·  

No, that's a good question. So the training platform is for clients. The theory is that they stop being our clients because our platform is confusing and if they don't learn it they don't see the value in it. With a real training platform we can teach them more efficiently, (or run reports to see what training they did or didn't get) and gain insights into what makes people churn.

goobster  ·  2301 days ago  ·  link  ·  

"Customer retention"

"Reduced churn rate"

"New customer acquisition costs $X.XX. Retaining N customers pays for the software."

The company I work for has a better than 99% customer retention rate. When you get to an impressive number like that, it becomes a big lever for sales and marketing to use. So customer retention could be a goal in and of itself.

On the other hand, if your platform is so hard to use and counterintuitive, then maybe the effort/money is best spent on solving the root problem rather than just putting a band-aid on the symptom.

It may be that after your research and cost/benefit analysis, your idea doesn't stand up. Gotta be ready to let it go, if the math doesn't work.

Isherwood  ·  2298 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I've pointed out the fact that training efficacy goes down as system complication goes up but they say they're intent on fixing both. I have been specifically tasked with building out the training program though, so I think they're bought into the idea so long as I can make it work.