Making a business case for new software

Before you set out to explore software options for your home care business, it’s important to be clear about the reasons for wanting new software. This is called ‘making a business case’.

Not only will this help you communicate your needs to stakeholders in your business, but it will also help you to create a framework to evaluate success once the software has been implemented.

Making a business case is an important part of any project implementation, and will help ensure you get what you want and need from a complex project.

What is a business case?

According to indeed.com ‘a business case is a valuable document that helps you explain to stakeholders and management why a particular project is a good investment.’

It can be a document, a presentation or a spreadsheet, but fundamentally it should include information that outlines and supports your reasoning and highlights all of the ways that the project will benefit the business and your clients.

Why have a business case?

A business case provides a clear outline of a project – and can be used to persuade decision-makers and stakeholders why the project is necessary. It also provides a framework for the delivery and performance monitoring of a project.

What should a business case cover?

  1. The big reasons why you want new software. In most cases, projects get initiated to solve a business problem. Figure out the problem, describe it, find out where it may be coming from and then address how the project can solve it.
  2. What you want the software to achieve for your business. Outline the key things that the software should be doing to help the business, the problems that it should ease and the roadblocks that it will remove.
  3. What you need the software to do. This should cover the features or processes that the software should be able to execute.
  4. The timescales of the project. Here you will talk about the roadmap that you envision.
  5. The risks of the project. Defining the risks and how they can impact the project can help the project manager avoid those risks as the project progresses.
  6. Who will be involved. This will help provide an overview of who will need to be involved with the project and ensure that you have suitable resources available.

What are the benefits of a business case?

  • You may find alternative approaches and uncover a better way of executing the project
  • You can better prioritise tasks and ensure that you prioritise the most important components
  • Your project will seem more compelling and may be easier to get buy-in from key decision-makers
  • You have a starting point which will allow you to get into the project more quickly
  • You can measure success more easily and will have an evaluation framework ready-made

Want to read more about managing software implementation in a home care business? Check out our comprehensive project implementation page.