How To Convince Your Stakeholders To Invest In A New Authoring Tool
You might be sold on the reasons why you need a cloud-based authoring tool but, unless you have the power to sign-off on the tool yourself, you have some work to do.
You need to convince your key stakeholders that investing is not only going to benefit you, but also them, their bosses and most importantly the business as a whole.
Get started by considering these questions:
- What are the current challenges that your stakeholders face?
- How do their issues align with the company’s business strategy for the next few years?
- Why should your stakeholders have an interest in your proposal?
- How will a cloud-based eLearning authoring tool enable your stakeholders to impress their bosses?
Next, you can start working on persuading your stakeholders using the following format to make your business case as persuasive as possible.
1. The Current Situation
This will involve auditing your business to some extent. You need to assess your current eLearning production process in order to identify any challenges or gaps. Make sure to consider:
- Your flexibility to scale up or meet new demands (for new audiences, multiple languages etc.).
- Your ability to adjust to the changing needs of your learners (mobile learning, microlearning, personalized learning etc.).
- The risks of failing to act or innovate (how future proofed are you?).
- How much time you are investing and how efficiently you are creating your offering.
- Challenges with version control.
- The quality of your output.
- Any limitations in your current skillset.
2. The Pros
You need to clearly communicate the benefits of investing in your recommended eLearning authoring tool. Make a list of the ways the tool is going to improve your business, including how it will help you overcome the challenges you have identified.
Be sure to include why you’ve selected your suggested tool over its competitors.
3. The Cons
All change comes with risk. Address this head on by putting together a ‘risk register’, in which you outline any potential problems and include a plans for mitigation.
For example, will your staff require training before they can use the tool? If so, is this likely to delay production? How might your business cope with this? One suggestion could be to stagger implementation of the tool, training a small number of staff members at first before rolling out company-wide. Make sure the authoring platform provider has the support and services to help you manage this change.
4. The Cost
Be upfront about the cost of your suggested tool and include anything else that might require additional budget, such as staff training. Your stakeholders need to know exactly what they’re in for and if you don’t do this now, you’re only going to run into trouble later.
Don’t forget that if your tool is more expensive than other options, you’re going to need to explain exactly where the added value lies.
Get Elucidat pricing information.
5. The Evidence
74% of people identify word-of-mouth as a key factor in their purchasing decisions. Try to source some testimonials or case studies about other businesses that have seen great results from using your suggested tool and let the results speak for themselves.
Another suggestion is to create a proof of concept in the actual tool so your stakeholders can get a taste of the benefits for themselves. Even better, ask the tool’s sales team to provide a demonstration to your stakeholders. They should be able to share showcase examples relevant to your needs.
The Result
Ultimately, the secret to building a failsafe business case is to demonstrate how the change you’re suggesting will help your business meet current challenges, as well as achieve future objectives.
Lastly, don’t forget that you can apply this format to a proposal for any new development or initiative, not just to help you secure a new eLearning authoring tool.
If you’re still not sure how to put your business case together, the experts at Elucidat are offering free consultancies to get you off to a good start.
Get help from Elucidat’s expert team to build your business case.
Still looking for the right authoring tool? Try Elucidat for free.
