Alex had a pretty long day and by the time he left office it was close to dinner time. He was quite famished, obviously. He headed to the nearest restaurant where he was absolutely certain of being served with best of the cuisines. He made himself comfortable at a table and took a good look at the menu. Since he had been there earlier it didn’t take much time for Alex to place the order.
The restaurant was quite well known for its chef who was famous for his world class dishes. He was fully supported with an excellent team who were capable of satisfying palates across the world.
While Alex waited patiently, the chef got down to create his magic. Needless to say he did an excellent job in coming up with a masterpiece! The dish was ready to be served.
As Alex almost reached the threshold of his patience, the kitchen doors opened. Through them came out a man in rags, holding a worn out platter on his left hand on which the signature dish was placed. He carried a soiled piece of cloth on his right hand and headed directly to Alex in the most untidy manner. He then placed the dish right in front of Alex along with a set of cutlery that someone used before!
I believe it is pointless to say what happened to Alex’s hunger!
While the above snippet is a work of fiction, this is absolutely true when it comes to Business Cases to plan the right technology solutions.
An operational business unit would have come up with a fantastic proposal for a new change. They might have all valid reasons for coming up with the change and how it was going to help them run their business better. Their hunger for this change was akin to Alex. They placed this need promptly in front of a project team who reaches out to their IT counterpart for a solution.
It is the turn of the ‘chefs’ at IT do their bit of magic. Whether it is an in-house application or a vendor product, together, the team comes up with a fantastic solution for the business problem. Quite a few rounds of discussions result in a presentable estimate.
The ‘dish’ aka solution is ready to be served.
Enter the team of people who consider themselves to be the specialists in Business Case. Their sole purpose of existence is to get the end users come up with a justification of why the change is required. Subsequently present this with all facts and figures so that approvals can be secured for timely implementation.
This is when the ‘man in rags’ comes to light. If the Business Case is not backed up with sufficient facts and numbers, then it’ll never stack up. An absolutely important business change backed with a state-of-the-art solution will all go down the drains if a meticulously drafted Business Case is not placed on the table of decision makers.
This weakest link many a times is a life changer for many. Initiatives could get approved or rejected based on the strength of Business Case. Careers could get redesigned. Professional paths could get forced to take a diversion.
It all boils down to how much someone is willing to put their heart and soul into the act of getting a Business Case which is a sales pitch converted into a confirmed order. Till the time teams do not realize this, we’ll continue to have Business Cases that are akin to still born babies!
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