Cloud Computing and SOA Convergence in Your Enterprise: A Step ...

Defining the Holistic Value 75
The steps are
1. Understand the existing issues
2. Assign costs
3. Model “as is”
4. Model “to be”
5. Define value points
6. Define hard benefits
7. Define soft benefits
8. Create final business case
Step 1: Understand the Existing Issues
This is the big one. You need to list all of the existing business and IT issues.
These are typically issues that hinder productivity or are major business processes
that need attention. They should be detailed enough that you are defining
a legitimate issue but not so detailed that you get lost in the minutia.
Moreover, you need to pick a domain. If yours is a Global 2000 company,
then the enterprise is just too big; the problem domain needs to be a subset
of systems that have the potential to become a project going forward—a
project that should take less than a year to complete. So, keep your domains
relevant but not too big. The sales automation system for an auto manufacturer
would be an example of a good domain for creating a business case for
cloud computing; the entire parts division of the auto manufacturer, consisting
of 100 systems, would perhaps be too big.
Again, put them in business and IT buckets. For example, let’s list issues
for a sales automation domain. These are just examples, mind you:
Business
Customer satisfaction is low due to lack of good sales automation
processes.
Sales projects are inaccurate, thus causing projected sales to be overstated
and understated.
IT
Existing hardware and software costs are not in alignment with best
practices.
Numerous system performance complaints are made by sales staff.
Sales staff is forced to share terminals because of scaling limitations from
the existing systems.