Before your organization makes a costly investment in hardware or software, use return-on-investment (ROI) analysis to guide your decision process. ROI analysis, when used as part of a well-rounded business case, can help you evaluate the strategic and measurable benefits, costs, and potential risks of technology purchases. Decision-makers can use your analysis to make well-informed decisions about the worthiness of new technology investments. When there are competing technology purchase requests, ROI analysis will help determine which purchase makes the most sense for your organization's strategic goals.

Evaluating the potential costs and benefits of software purchases can be difficult. You may find it hard to measure benefits, or you may not understand some of the hidden costs of software deployment. Use the articles and tools here to identify the hard benefits that result in cash revenue and to identify the soft benefits that don't result in monetary value. You'll learn tips to capture the true costs of deploying software, including the costs for support, maintenance, and training that all occur over the software's useful life.

You can use Microsoft Office Excel 2003 to gather costs and benefits data for a proposed technology purchase. Excel can automatically calculate the potential return on investment for the purchase. Excel provides a handy way for your organization's decision-makers to compare competing technology purchase requests and determine the best budget allocation.

Use the following links to learn more about ROI analysis for technology purchases.

• Use ROI analysis to prioritize technology purchases (Article)
  Create a strong business case for your technology purchase using ROI analysis.
• Use ROI analysis for business software investments (Article)
  Quantify the hidden benefits, costs, and risks before purchasing software for your organization.
• Capital budgeting — return-on-investment (ROI) analysis (Template)
  Use Excel to make informed decisions about competing capital investment opportunities.