Express results as key performance indicators

Collections management systems aren’t just time savers, they’re also enablers. The new technology could make it possible to take on projects that wouldn’t be possible before. Such as enabling the institutions to share your collections online, or increasing the rate of digitisation. It’s just as important to demonstrate what you’ll now be able to achieve, rather than just the time you’ll save.

Leadership regularly have to report on KPIs (Key Performance Indicator) and key metrics, and these numbers are tied to their understanding of what makes the institution successful. When you speak about benefits, try and assign a projected KPI such as an increase in customer engagement or a related financial figure. For example:

  • We currently have XX people engaging with our collections each month
  • If we published our collections online, we could likely deliver a XX% increase in our reach

Benefits aren’t always financial, especially in charitable organisations. Sometimes it isn’t necessary to demonstrate a financial return on investment, but rather highlight a good use of spend. Think about the core metrics that your organisation uses to track its success. Can you honestly say that your projects will likely increase one or more of those metrics? If so, by how much? Are you able to assign a number or percentage value? Once you are able to answer these questions, all you need to do is benchmark your approach against another method to demonstrate the value. For example:

  • If we spend £3000 in staff time improving the quality of the collections data now, we will be able to digitise an additional 1000 records by the end of the year.
  • If we were to pay a digitisation company to do this work, it would cost £5000.

Using practical scenarios to quantify your requests helps management to frame software investment against other competing interests that may not yield comparable results. It also establishes baseline expectations on the expected return on investment of the technology.

Prove Reduced Risk