Many project teams struggle with creating compelling business cases, and CFOs are often skeptical about whether they will deliver the value targets. There are great learnings from PE value creation plans that would make your business cases better. Here is how.

A private equity firm once told me they believed there were two kinds of business cases. One is the check-the-box business case where you have to satisfy some hurdle rate to get approval for your project. The other type is the bet-you-career value creation plans, where you measure delivering the stated financial benefits. The firm believed many companies went through business case development motions without any intention of measuring and delivering targeted results. 

Digital project teams often get frustrated when they think they have a high ROI, but the CFO or the board are not equally excited. Value creation plans can teach us a lot about how to build compelling business cases for the board.

ROI and value creation may sound similar, but they are very different approaches to results. I spent half my career with project teams developing ROI studies and then the other half around private equity firms thinking in terms of value creation plans. So let’s get to the three differences that could make your business case more impactful