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Lise explains why we need to remember the softer benefits of MDM

You might have noticed last week that our preliminary business case omitted a few items from the original candidate list of benefits. Specifically, we excluded the “soft” or intangible benefits that can be difficult to quantify:

Example: Business case for “single view of customer” project—soft benefits

When reviewing a project proposal, sponsors often give soft benefits less consideration than “hard” or quantifiable ones. Nevertheless, soft benefits can still play an important role in the project approval process.

This is especially true in the case of MDM projects, where the ultimate benefit depends on how effectively clean data is used to support the business. As one public sector executive explains, “While it may be difficult to quantify the cost of bad data, the availability of accurate customer information promises major budget savings.”

As a guideline, you should call out soft or intangible benefits that fall into two categories:

Compliance

Today, organizations have increased their focus on compliance with government mandates and industry guidelines. Governance issues such as financial disclosure and privacy protection are top of mind for many executives. Projects that support, automate or help enforce compliance are often fast-tracked for approval.

To strengthen the case for compliance-related benefits, you should include information about potential fines and penalties for noncompliance, and point out any incidents that have occurred in your industry. My colleague Kelvin Looi, a well-known voice in the customer data integration field, emphasizes that “the big hammer of government is always a useful way to justify beginning a customer MDM project.”

Support for Existing Projects

Once an organization launches a new initiative, they are eager for it to succeed. A good way to gain consideration for a soft benefit is to link it to a major project that is already in flight—especially one that your sponsors favor. In the example presented here, the IT team states that the “single-view project” will add incremental value to a major technology initiative now underway. Chances are that the CIO will take notice.

Take a look at the business case you’ve created for your project. Have you missed any soft benefits that could strengthen your proposal? Or, have stakeholders pushed back on qualitative factors that you wanted to include? Please share your experiences by commenting on this post.

We’re just about at the end of this series.  I’ll present the final wrap up next week.  Meanwhile, if you missed either of the MDM Vision and Value eBooks, you can download them from the IBM InfoSphere MDM site.

This is part of the MDM Vision & Value series. Catch up on the rest of the series.