Translate Technology Solutions Into a Strong Business Case  

How do you explain highly technical designs in terms that nontechnical managers and executives--who typically have decision-making power over the budget--can understand and appreciate? Unless you know a technical writer who can translate for you, you're going to have to do it yourself.

Talon, Mike. TechRepublic (2003). Careers>Business Communication>Technical Writing>Business Case

Use Case Classics

A use case is a detailed description of a user's interaction with a system. That's it. It's pretty simple; somewhat general, rather vague. That's the way it should be. A use case really amounts to nothing more than plain old 'documentation.' It can be applied to a business process, a complex software system, your morning routine, a wedding ceremony, or a historical event. The only requirements are an 'actor' and an object to be acted upon.

Kass, Andrew. BA Collective (2007). Articles>Business Communication>Case Studies

What You Need to Know About TCO (Total Cost of Ownership)

Is someone not telling the truth? Or, has Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) simply become a meaningless concept? And what, if anything, do customers and vendors need to know about TCO?

Solution Matrix (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Business Case>ROI

Why Do Business Cases Fail? What Can You Do About It?

A business case may predict excellent results yet still fail to 'make the case.' We see project managers, IT directors, sales people, and others who have just had the painful experience: they predicted great cash flow, high ROI, and short payback - and still got a thumbs down from top management.

Solution Matrix (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Rhetoric>Business Case

The Business Case for Web Standards

A wiki to facilitate the collation of arguments and counterarguments in favor of web standards, and to sort them into the different categories of who we want to persuade.

Heilmann, Christian. Business Case for Web Standards, The (2007). Resources>Web Design>Standards>Business Case

Eight Arguments for Open Source

Is Open Source better? It's not a black and white question; the answer will depend on your needs and circumstances. Still, there are some very good things to be said for supporting Open Source and Open Standards. Here's a list of the top reasons why we prefer Open Standards and Open Source development.

Shreves, Ric. Water and Stone (2004). Articles>Software>Open Source>Business Case

Developing a Web Accessibility Business Case for Your Organization: Overview

There are initial costs for organizations implementing Web accessibility; however, the initial costs are often offset by a full return on investment. In order to be willing to invest the initial costs, many organizations need to understand the social, technical, and financial benefits of Web accessibility and the expectations of the returns throughout the organization.

Arch, Andrew and Chuck Letourneau. W3C (2005). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Business Case

The Benefits of an Accessible Website, Part 2: The Business Case

Some organisations are making accessibility improvements to their websites, but many are seemingly not making the accessibility adjustments. Disabled people don't access their website, they say, so why should they care?

Moss, Trenton. uiGarden (2005). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Business Case

The Business Case For Web Content Management...and Why Plone

Each situation is unique based on specific organizational needs and issues. Although the benefits may be difficult to quantify at times, at some point, your company will simply decide that, ROI or not, it can't live any longer with the (likely growing) pain of not effectively managing your content.

Crouch, David. SlideShare (2008). Presentations>Content Management>Business Case>Plone

Alternative Business Models for HCI

It is easy to be complacent about the future in this climate and to forget the lessons of the dotcom crash of a few years ago. At that time, usability professionals struggled in a market that was dominated by cost-cutting. The problem then was that usability had a limited business offering that focused on optimisation.

Knight, John. Usability News (2005). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>Business Case>United Kingdom

Making the Case for XML Content Repositories

As traditional magazine publishers continue to build out their e-media products, many are looking to new, more efficient ways to manage their content and bridge the gap between separate production systems. One solution is XML content repositories, which convert a magazine’s content to a format that’s easily reproduced both digitally and in print.

Fell, Jason. Folio (2008). Articles>Content Management>Business Case>XML

Fifteen Companies That Really Get Corporate Blogging

Below is a list of 15 companies that really get corporate blogging and produce blogs that are informative, fascinating, and a joy to read even for people who aren’t die-hard fans of the company.

Catone, Josh. SitePoint (2008). Articles>Business Communication>Blogging>Case Studies

Staging a Team Performance    

Drawing on insights from Goffman's dramaturgical approach to interaction, this article demonstrates how meetings are team performances routinely concerned with sustaining or challenging interpretations of power relations. The data for this article were collected at a British embassy, relying on participant observation, audio recordings of weekly gatherings of Heads of Section, and interviews with the people that attended the meeting. The analysis focuses on the double role behavior of the Ambassador as the director and central player of a team performance and the conflicting ideologies these shifting roles entail.

Van Praet, Ellen. JBC (2009). Articles>Business Communication>Collaboration>Case Studies

UBL and the Colombian Connection

This session provides a realistic tour of the process of implementing and customizing UBL, through the study of our implementation of UBL for the ministries of agriculture and commerce of the Republic of Colombia. Both through general tools (xmlroff as modified by Fabio to support UBL pdf output) and through custom made, open source software, XML-based technologies are effectively bridging the gap of B2B commerce between the United States and the rest of the world. UBL Capture, Presentation, Storage, Transfer software custom made by UBL voting member Fabio Arciniegas is demonstrated and dissected within the context of a real life example of implementation for the colombian government.

Arciniegas, Fabio. IDEAlliance (2004). (Spanish) Articles>Business Communication>XML>Case Studies

Maximizing Web Services ROI (Return on Investment)

While there is real and measurable ROI for Web services when used in the context of a project, leveraging Web services technology to build a service-oriented architecture will dramatically improve overall ROI. However, several critical pitfalls must be avoided in order to effectively realize the benefits of SOA.

Foody, Daniel. IDEAlliance (2004). Articles>Web Design>Business Case

Developing a Business Case for XML-Based Content Management Systems

One would think that with the magnitude of XML-based tools into the marketplace it would be easier to justify authoring and storing documents directly in XML. By now most managers have been exposed to the benefits of creating XML content management systems according to some agreed upon set of documentation rules. However, understanding the benefits of this technical approach and being able to justify the expense of implementing it are two different things. Many XML developers are not able to articulate the long-term advantages of converting corporate data repositories to XML in order to build a suitable business case to get such a project off the ground. This session will help business managers articulate the long-term advantages of converting corporate data repositories to XML in order to build a suitable business case to get such projects off the ground by outlining the many cost savings and revenue generation opportunities created by managing enterprise data directly in XML.This session will help business managers articulate the long-term advantages of converting corporate data repositories to XML in order to build a suitable business case to get such projects off the ground by outlining the many cost savings and revenue generation opportunities created by managing enterprise data directly in XML.

Buehling, Brian. IDEAlliance (2005). Articles>Content Management>Business Case>XML

Why Bother With User Documentation in Recessionary Times?

In recessionary times, organisations should focus on getting sales from existing customers - so customer retention becomes ever more important.

Cherryleaf (2009). Articles>Documentation>Business Case>User Centered Design

Return on Investment (ROI) on XBRL

Our initial effort at tagging and furnishing an XBRL document to the SEC consumed approximately 80 hours of an employee’s time. But to adequately evaluate this commitment, it is necessary to understand the scope and context of the effort. The hours included not only the time to tag the underlying document, but also the time to learn how to use the tagging tool, understand the requirements for filing under the SEC’s VFP, create tags that did not exist in the standard taxonomy, and to build a process that would allow the ongoing tagging and filing of documents. Our current effort to tag and file an 8-K earnings release is down to approximately four hours now that the learning curve has been eliminated.

Stantial, John. XBRL.us (2007). Articles>Business Communication>Case Studies>XBRL

Out of Box Experience: Getting It Right the First Time

The out-of-box experience (OOBE) describes the user's first interaction with a product or service. In the technology sector this first experience invariably involves plugging stuff in, installing some software and crossing your fingers in the hope that the product will work. The problem is that, in far too many cases, it doesn’t.

Long, Frank. Frontend Infocentre (2009). Design>User Centered Design>Business Case>Other...

Students Advise Fortune 500 Company: Designing a Problem-Based Learning Community    

This article describes the process of planning and implementing a problem-based learning community. Business and communication students from a large university in the Western United States competed in teams to solve an authentic business problem posed by a Fortune 500 company. The company's willingness to adopt some of their recommendations testified to the professional quality of their final product. This experience gave students an opportunity to apply communication concepts to a business problem. They learned how to make vital connections between theory and practice and between shared knowledge and shared knowing. In the process, students grew personally and professionally.

Brzovic, Kathy and S. Irene Matz. Business Communication Quarterly (2009). Articles>Education>Business Communication>Case Studies

Incorporating Reflective Practice Into Team Simulation Projects for Improved Learning Outcomes    

The use of simulation games in business courses is a popular method for providing undergraduate students with experiences similar to those they might encounter in the business world. As such, in 2003 we were pleased to find a classroom simulation tool that combined the decision-making and team experiences of a senior management group with a fun, realistic, and competitive plot: We selected the Business Strategy Game, an online simulation for use with the textbook Crafting and Executing Strategy: The Quest for Competitive Advantage. We then enhanced the student experience by blending the simulation game with reflective writing tools that help students recognize how team experiences and decisions ripple though an enterprise.

Wills, Katherine V. and Thomas A. Clerkin. Business Communication Quarterly (2009). Articles>Education>Business Communication>Case Studies

Performing Sustainable Development Through Eco-Collaboration: The Ricelands Habitat Partnership    

In this article, the authors demonstrate this point through a genealogy and textual analysis of the Ricelands Habitat Partnership (RHP), an eco-collaboration between the rice industry and environmental advocates in California's Sacramento Valley. Articulated here as a story of enemies becoming friends, the RHP gives life to a vision of more (if not perfectly) sustainable agriculture, where sustaining business and the natural environment can go hand in hand. The authors argue that sustainable development (like democracy or other abstract concepts) becomes 'real' for businesses and for society at large through local enactment.

Livesey, Sharon M., Cathy L. Hartman, Edwin R. Stafford and Molley Shearer. JBC (2009). Articles>Business Communication>Environmental>Case Studies

Business Information Through Spain’s Chambers of Commerce: Meeting Business Needs    

From different public and private requirements, mechanisms have been set in action that allow for companies to obtain information in order to make decisions with a stronger foundation. This article is focused on the description of an entire information system for the business world, developed in the realm of the Chambers of Commerce of Spain, which has given rise to the creation of an authentic network of inter-chamber information. In Spain, the obligatory membership of businesses to the Chambers of Commerce in their geographic areas, and therefore the compulsory payment of member quotas, has traditionally generated some polemics, above all because many firms have not perceived a material usefulness of the services offered by these Chambers. Notwithstanding, the 85 Chambers currently existing in Spain, as well as the organization that coordinates them – the Upper Council or Consejo Superior de Cámaras de Comercio – and the company created expressly to commercialize information services online, Camerdata, have developed genuinely informative tools that cover a good part of the information demands that a business might claim, and these are described here.

Cañavate, Antonio Muñoz and Pedro Hípola. Business Information Review (2008). Articles>Business Communication>Case Studies>Europe

Engaging with Social Media in the Business and Intellectual Property Centre (BIPC) at the British Library    

In this article, Neil Infield shares with us the way in which the BIPC has successfully used social media to reach its diverse audience of inventors, entrepreneurs and small business owner.

Infield, Neil. Business Information Review (2009). Articles>Business Communication>Social Networking>Case Studies

Using Research: Supporting Organizational Change and Improvement    

Explores the importance of organizational research as a tool to support business change and improvement. Describes a tried and tested research methodology that has been used within public and private sector organizations and can be easily adapted by in-house research and information services. Demonstrates how research can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of learning and development products and services. Includes a case study from a central government department that investigates the role of the line manager in learning.

Wheeler, Stephanie. Business Information Review (2009). Articles>Research>Business Communication>Case Studies