Building a Business Case for Content Strategy Initiatives

Building a Business Case
for Content Initiatives
by
@JackMolisani

President
ProSpring Technical Staffing
Executive Director
The LavaCon Conference
Author
Be the Captain of Your Career

Two Parts:
Organizational Positioning
Building a Business Case

Organizational Positioning
I searched the Internet for
Product Development Lifecycle
diagrams that included content
development.
I couldn’t find any that included
“content” development but I did find
some that included “documentation,”
so let’s start with those.

What’s wrong with
this diagram?
http://www.meierit.com.au/approach/process

It shows documentation
at the end of the
product
development
lifecycle

Better, but—
http://riskianawulan.net/2011/09/system‐development‐life‐cycle/

Content development is still
separate from
product
development

Plus Documentation is on the outside
looking in

http://www.pddnet.com/articles/2009/05/project‐plan‐bible
And this one, what’s right?

Technical Publications is part of the
Product Team—Yay!

What’s wrong with this
diagram?
Development Strategy
Design
Information Architecture
Design
Develop
Develop
Test…
Content Strategy
Test…
Content Plan
Product Plan
3
4
1
2
5
4
5
1
2
6
6
3
System Architecture

Content development is still
separate from product
development
Development Strategy
Design
Design
Develop
Develop
Test…
Content Strategy
Test…
Content Plan
Product Plan
3
4
1
2
5
4
5
1
2
6
6
3
System Architecture

That’s how content development
looks today.
How should it look?

CONTENT!
Reqmnts
Def’n
Design
Sales
Test
Build
Usability
Test
P’type
Deploy
Support
Product
Mgmt

• Total User Experience
• Total Info Experience
• User Interface Design
• Embedded Content
‐ Field Names
‐ Embedded UA
‐ Error Messages
• External Content
‐ Online Help
‐ User Manuals
‐ Training Materials
‐ Support Site
• Developer Docs
• Content Management
• Translation Management
• Controlled Language and
Vocabulary Management
• More
DESIGN
CONTENT!
Reqmnts
Def’n
Design
Sales
Test
Build
Usability
Test
P’type
Deploy
Support
Product
Mgmt

So if we can’t have a content‐centric
development process, at least
we can influence the product
development process,
every step of
the way
Dev Strategy
Design
Develop
Test…
Product Plan
System Architecture
Design
Develop
Test…
Content Strategy
Content Plan

Especially if you are an embedded
member of a Agile team, working
side‐by‐side with the developers
http://tinyurl.com/k5znhlq

So how do you build
a business case for
content projects?

Business Basics
Companies exist to make
PROFITS
for the owners/shareholders

To make PROFIT,
companies must make more
MONEY
than they
SPEND

Thus
MANAGEMENT
focuses on
generating REVENUE
reducing COSTS

So how does this apply to
CONTENT
projects?

You have to show how your
EXPENDITURE
will
INCREASE REVENUE
or
DECREASE COSTS

STRUCTURED AUTHORING
Implementation
“Reducing the amount of time spent
on formatting should translate into an
increase in production, of course, but
the 200% increase in our output
surpassed all of our expectations.”
Keith Schengili‐Roberts,
Documentation & Localization Manager
AMD
http://www.ixiasoft.com/casestudy/case_study_AMD.pdf

TECHNICAL SUPPORT
“Live‐agent customer service
interactions costs between
$25 (for consumer electronics)
and $150 (for complex B2B software).”
Jeffrey Tarter
Executive Director
Association of Support Professionals
http://www.asponline.com

CMS+SOCIAL
Implementation
400% growth in user self help
51% reduction in costs per ticket/case
50% reduction in documentation costs
47% reduction in mean time to resolution
37% deflection rates in support cases
Corey Ganser
Customer Experience Manager
MindTouch
http://mndt.ch/2brief

CONTENT MANAGEMENT
Implementation
“GMAC used the Microsoft CM Server to
support two key initiatives: transferring the
content publishing function to content authors
and freeing up formerly burdened IT resources
to support more dynamic and personalized
customer‐facing Web portals. ROI: 87%
Payback: 1.2 years”
Nucleus Research, Inc.
ROI ANALYSIS YOU CAN TRUST ™
http://nucleusresearch.com/library/microsoft‐roi/d96.pdf

Building a Business Case for Content Strategy Initiatives

More
COST AVOIDANCE
Stories
“GMAC used the Microsoft CM Server to
support two key initiatives: transferring the
content publishing function to content authors
and freeing up formerly burdened IT resources
to support more dynamic and personalized
customer‐facing Web portals. ROI: 87%
Payback: 1.2 years”

More
COST AVOIDANCE
Stories
TARGET
Accessibility Story
HOME DEPOT
Snow Blower Story

One survey estimated that the
annual cost of searching for
information and creating,
recreating, and publishing
information is over $30,000
per worker per year.
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090506005284/en/Hidden‐Costs‐
Information‐Work‐Enterprise‐Exposed‐IDC#.U3T4GCiowyo

LOST REVENUE
While you should
ABSOLUTELY
chase cost reduction,
lost potential revenue
DWARFS
simple cost savings

INCREASING REVENUE
INVITROGEN
Cost‐of‐Sale Story
HTC
Automated Marketing Story

So where can you get
NUMBERS
for your
BUSINESS CASE?
FIND
online, from vendors, etc.
PROTOTYPE
record in a historical database

What PROBLEM are you solving?
State the problem you are solving,
the cost of the solution, and the ROI.
State why it’s a problem for the
company, not why it’s a problem
for you.
Give options, including the cost
and risk of doing nothing.

Position your department as a integral part
of the product development team

Show how your expenditure will
increase revenue/decrease costs

Find numbers to support your case

State why it’s a problem for the company,
the cost (offer options), and the ROI

Do you have an example of how you fiscally
helped your company? Let me know!

Jack@LavaCon.org
@JackMolisani

Building a Business Case for Content Strategy Initiatives

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