Introducing the iSOCRATES MADTechBI ROI Calculator

Introducing the iSOCRATES MADTechBI ROI Calculator

By William A. Lederer, Chairman and CEO, iSOCRATES
Recently, iSOCRATES’s Chairman and CEO, Bill Lederer, participated in an online webinar hosted by our partner Sisense. In that webinar, Bill introduced an important new tool for organizations contemplating the purchase of a platform for media and marketing business intelligence, or what we at iSOCRATES call MADTechBI.

We call this new tool the iSOCRATES MADTechBI ROI Calculator.

In this post, we’ll look at what this new tool does, how it works, why it’s important to companies considering a purchase of a MADTechBI platform, and how you can gain free access to it.

This is the second installment of a three-part series based on our new white paper, Media and Marketing BI ROI: Determining and Realizing Return on Investment from Media and Marketing Business Intelligence Platforms.

If you missed the first article in the series, you can click here to read Part 1.

If you would like to like to download the complete white paper, Click here.

What is the MADTechBI ROI calculator and how does it work?

The MADTechBI ROI calculator is an important tool that will prove to your organization the quantitative value of using a MADTechBI platform. The calculator’s results can be used in evaluating ROI from any MADTechBI platform, not just our own.

The calculator is meant to help potential iSOCRATES clients understand the true financials of their investment. It is easily accessible for anyone through our website. The exercise will take less than 15 minutes and offer you real results you can present to company decision-makers and influencers.

What inputs are necessary to use the ROI calculator?

To use the MADTechBI ROI calculator you will need to supply it with some information about your company and your marketing and business intelligence organization. You will also be asked to make estimates on expected efficiency gains, but in those cases, you will only have to choose a figure from a dropdown menu.

Naturally, the more accurate the data you provide, the more accurate the ROI calculation will be. So, you may want to look up some data before you run the calculator. Don’t forget, though, that you may also want to run some hypothetical “what-if” scenarios to project ROI based on future growth.

The calculator’s interview process

The ROI calculator is a system that flexes based on your responses. The calculator offers a drop-down menu of anticipated answers. As the user goes through the process, each question is adjusted based on their previous answer.

The BI ROI calculator might ask the user: “Do you currently have a BI tool at your company?” If the answer is no, then the next question might be: “Are you interested in having one?” If the answer is yes, then the calculator will go on to ask specific questions about the features of the user’s current system and future needs.

What this means is that the answer in the report at the very end of the ROI calculator is completely personalized to the user and should fit their specific requirements and inputs. The calculator’s final answer will yield specific return on investment figures.

What outputs are provided by the ROI calculator?

Once you have entered all the requested input data, the MADTechBI ROI calculator will finalize its calculations and present its results, which include:

• First-year financial return (in US $)
• Payback time (How many months it will take to gain back your investment)
• First-year ROI
• Second-year ROI
• Third-year ROI
• Fourth-year ROI
• Fifth-year ROI

Thus, for the data you entered, you will have a clear estimate of how long it will take to recoup your initial investment and of your return on that investment over each of the first five years your company uses your new MADTechBI platform.

For most companies, our calculator will show how a MADTechBI platform can gain you at least a 20% greater return on your Marketing tactics and operations compared to your current marketing technology and staffing.

What benefits are derived from using the MADTechBI ROI calculator?

There are many benefits presented by using the MADTechBI ROI calculator. From a qualitative standpoint, the calculator will help stakeholders better understand how a MADTechBI platform fits within their organization.

As a quantitative measure, the calculator will yield the revenue-generating and non-revenue-generating costs and benefits of purchasing a MADTechBI platform. Depending upon the user of the ROI calculator, one or the other of these benefits may be of greater importance.

Selling business decision-makers, financial controllers, and other stakeholders on the proposition of purchasing a MADTechBI platform can be a challenge. To do so, you’ll need to be able to make an air-tight case for your chosen solution.
Advocating the purchase of a product by your own company starts with having relevant information. That’s where our MADTechBI ROI calculator comes in. We’ve tried to make it as quick and easy as possible to generate a detailed, formatted report you can use in presenting to concerned stakeholders.

The insights you gain from using our MADTechBI ROI Calculator will:
• Help you dimensionalize total cost of ownership and return on investment
• Provide you with a rational framework for evaluation and decision making
• Help you persuade financial controllers of the merits of your case

This web-based, “what if” calculator offers an easy and accessible way for key stakeholders to better understand the financial and operational constraints that impact your company when purchasing a new MADTechBI platform.

How to access the iSOCRATES MADTechBI ROI Calculator

As mentioned, our MADTechBI ROI Calculator is available through our website. You can find it under our FREE RESOURCES drop-down menu or by clicking on the following link: Access the MADTechBI ROI Calculator

In our next blog post…

In the third and final blog post of this series, we’ll examine some potential issues that might arise in using the calculator, how the ROI calculator’s results may best be presented to management, and how to overcome some typical objections to investing in MADTechBI tools.

For additional information

As mentioned earlier, this blog post is excerpted from our new white paper,Media and Marketing BI ROI: Determining and Realizing Return on Investment from Media and Marketing Business Intelligence Platforms. To download your FREE copy of that white paper, Click here.

If you would like to view the introductory webinar, Next Generation BI for Media and Marketing, hosted by our partner Sisense, it’s available on demand. You can access that webinar here