Business Impact is the benefit realized from a project or initiative expressed in terms of taking action vs. doing nothing.
What is Business Impact?
Business Impact is the benefit realized from a project or initiative expressed in terms of taking action vs. doing nothing.
Why do we quantify Business Impact?
Ultimately, we quantify impact because we are crafting a story of how a clearly defined business objective—with prescribed actions and desired outcomes—creates value for our clients. We quantify impact to share those stories with our clients and with the world.
How do we quantify Business Impact?
Business Impact should be quantified in one of the 3 primary impact categories listed below. At the start of an engagement, we speculate on what impact we will create through the project, and then we go about proving that with data and customer feedback to determine the actual results realized from the actions we took.
- Make Money / Save Money.
- Capability / Resource / Operational Improvements
- Improved Customer / Employee Experience
How do we measure Business Impact?
At Search Discovery, we measure Business Impact using a 4-step process.
Step 1: Define Objectives
Objectives are the things that we are working to achieve. These typically come from discovery discussions with stakeholders.
- Example Objectives include: Achieve accuracy in Analytics data, Automate process, Build Brand Awareness, Enable Optimization, Faster page load times, Implement/Test/Deploy Adobe Launch, Train users on Google Analytics, etc.
Step 2: Identify Actions
Actions are the specific tasks we undertake in order to accomplish our Objectives. These are identified in our Project Planning documents and are usually broken down into phases.
- Example Actions include: Conduct stakeholder interviews, Gather business requirements, Integrate data sources, Harmonize data, Build custom dashboards, Configure Analytics setup, Incorporate new campaign requirements, Conduct training sessions, etc
Step 3: Document Desired Outcomes
Desired Outcomes are measurable targets that are directly tied to Objectives and Actions. This is where you articulate the outcomes of the project, or in other words, what you hope to achieve.
- Example Desired include: Improved data transparency across marketing and operations, Real-time performance monitoring, Reduced report creation time, Develop internal capability to manage Adobe Launch, Establish clear metrics for success, etc.
Step 4: Quantify Business Impact
Business Impact should be quantified in one of the 3 primary impact categories listed below. At the start of an engagement, we speculate on what impact we will create through the project, and then we go about proving that with data and customer feedback to determine the actual results realized from the actions we took.
- Make Money / Save Money
- Capability / Resource / Operational Improvements
- Improved Customer / Employee Experience
However, we don't live in a perfect world where everything fits into neat little boxes and categories. Thus, we will utilize primary and secondary Impact Categories to capture the nuances of Business Impact:
