How Do You Determine the ROI of an OCS Setup?

September 2, 2009 by Chris Williams
Filed under: Instant Messaging (IM), OCS 2007, OCS 2007 R2, Unified Communications, Voice over IP

Using Office Communications Server 2007 in a business does have a lot of advantages, some of which I”ve covered in this blog so far. But what if you”re dealing with a numbers guy, someone who constantly repeats phrases like, “Bottom line,” “maximize profits” and “ROI?”

How do you please a hardcore-numbers manager/CFO when it comes to OCS? They”ll want to know lots of specifics. And you can be sure the question of ROI will come up. “What’’s the return on investment here?” they”ll probably bellow, pounding a fist into the desk hard enough to rattle their pen cup. “How do we know we”re getting a good value from this software?”

It’’s a fair question. So let’’s see about answering it!

What Kind of ROI Should We Expect from OCS?
I”ve talked about replacing PBX with a VoIP setup in OCS before. In terms of direct expense, that’’s the biggest ROI for OCS 2007 in terms of cash–you don”t need a PBX if you use OCS VoIP. Other related services (voicemail extras, additional phone/data lines, third-party conferencing software) also add up to monthly cost savings.

Sometimes companies buy OCS for the VoIP capability, or the conferencing capability. The fact that they get all the other services - instant messaging, presence, email plug-ins - is icing on the cake to them. However, I”d say this is another form of ROI too. Several clients found that as they began using these additional communications methods, the more valuable they became. (So did we, in fact.)

ROI of Time Savings
But a better way to look at ROI for OCS 2007 is in productivity. This is harder, maybe impossible to give numbers for. But you can illustrate it by showing what its benefits will lead to. For example.

Conferencing Anyone Can Start. Leads to: Live records of who said what, fewer project mistakes due to clearer directions.
Mobile information Sharing. Leads to: Fewer bottlenecks/delayed deadlines.
Quicker, Easier Inter-office Conversations. Leads to: Faster turnaround on projects.

So, What DO We Tell the Numbers Guy?
Tell him you”ll save an estimated X each month on not paying for a PBX, conferencing systems and extra lines. Tell him employees will be able to complete projects more easily, resulting in pleased customers & more repeat sales. Tell him OCS 2007 even has hosted & virtual options, if he wants to stick to flat rates.

It’’s not a strict-dollars-and-sense type of ROI measurement. But it’’s a great way to demonstrate that the office would get value from OCS 2007.

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