The Business Case for A Center of Excellence

The key to crafting a successful business case for a telecom, mobility, and IT management center of excellence (CoE) lies in the measurable value that the CoE delivers to the business. This requires deep understanding of how technology is used by the business to achieve its objectives. To gain visibility into required details, engage business stakeholders to understand the role technology plays in supporting financial performance and operational excellence within each business unit.

Telecom, mobility, and IT technology is an operating expense that impacts margin and profit. Optimizing expense is one way to impact financial performance, but technology can also influence revenue. Understanding how technology automates business transactions, accelerates revenue opportunities, and provides competitive advantage, enables technology leaders to model and quantify CoE value. For example, technology that enables a sales team to improve the contact-to-sale ratio increases sales productivity. The financial value of the rate of increase in this example is the key to quantifying the measurable impact of the technology delivered and supported by the CoE.

A CoE can also support operational excellence at the individual and business unit levels. Understanding the technical requirements for each user as well as training and support needs enables the CoE to implement frictionless technology delivery that decreases delivery time and increases utilization competency. Lost productivity due to unavailable technology, time spent waiting on break-fix resolution, and time spent learning how to use technology has a real cost. Relating the cost of time to each user spent on these and other non-productive technology-related activities sheds light on the value of operational excellence to the business.