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Building a TCO strategy for ROI [Video]

Appian Contributor
January 21, 2014

With all the different types of enterprise software packages on the market, it's important to not only make the right choice for today, but also one that makes the most sense when it comes to total cost of ownership - or TCO ñ over time.

However, many organizations don't consider TCO, but instead only look at the upfront costs of choosing a software application. While this approach can be straightforward it is short-sighted.

Organizations need to look at the big picture and include unplanned events into their TCO model by asking if the software is flexible enough to adapt to changes such as new regulations, different business strategies and new market opportunities.

When looking at start-up costs, consider:

- Software licenses expense and overage charges

- Server and infrastructure costs if the app is not in the cloud

- Customization costs

- Cost of services for Installation

- Cost of training users

- And cost to enable users if access requirements go beyond a standard web browser

Now, take a look at on-going application support costs and ask:

- What is the annual software maintenance cost charged by the vendor?

- What will the internal costs of supporting the application be?

- And what are the expected upgrade costs?

Next, determine the overall benefits to your organization and look for software that will:

- Improve productivity of direct users

- Provide better insights for management

- Have built-in mobile apps

- And increase the speed of information and improve communication and decision making across departments

With Appian - you get model-driven application composition that is faster to develop, easier to integrate, and more agile to adapt and change over time, which means users are instantly more productive. Plus, the cloud delivery means no more maintenance or upgrade costs.

And with Appian, you also get world-class professional service, training and customer support from BPM software industry experts.

With a comprehensive TCO strategy, you'll be able to measure your ROI beyond cost savings.

You'll also see benefits add up on things like business growth, customer acquisition and engagement, time to market, and increased service delivery quality.

Appian software can answer all your TCO needs when it comes to finding the most agile BPM applications that result in the best long-term ROI.