Licence costs are only a small part of the overall cost of implementing an EPM solution.  Changing business practice, the way your organisation works, is by far the most challenging aspect of an EPM solution financially and practically.  However, let’s not lose sight of the potential benefits to your organisation of an EPM solution; what is the likely return on investment?

Financially
The easiest way to measure ROI is in terms of cash saved. Estimates of the costs of late, failed or overrunning business change initiatives vary wildly. Conservatively let’s estimate that the average initiative overruns by 15% of total budgeted cost. The table above shows some calculations based on three different sized change initiatives appropriate to an organisation running a portfolio of change initiatives (e.g. large IT dept.), a single large change programme (e.g. public sector) and a typical small business project (new facility).  The costs for deployment are estimates based on a Microsoft Office Enterprise Project Management (EPM) Solution with appropriate hardware, software and consultancy services being purchased.

You might think that these numbers are not representative of your organisation, so have a go at the calculation yourself.

1. Look at the last major business change you implemented and note the original cost estimate.
2. Look at what was actually spent and calculate the percentage overspend.
3. Write down the critical business initiatives you currently have underway or have planned in your organisation and use the percentage overspend from above to estimate the projected future overspend.

At this stage you could argue EPM will not completely remove the overspends most organisations are incurring, which would be a fair comment as some events are beyond your control.  The point is to emphasise the relatively low cost of gaining control compared to the relatively high cost of losing control.  Is the current state of control one which you are willing to perpetuate?

Competitive advantage
In the modern world speed is a prime driver of competitive advantage. Your organisation’s ability to implement change more quickly, more effectively and more frequently than your competition will determine your success in the market place.
The question is, do you believe that your current approaches to implementing change will allow you to be a leader in your market or will you always been running to catch up?
The ROI on competitive advantage is simple to measure: will you still be in business next year?