eBook: Building an Effective Business Case – 7 Pitfalls to Avoid

Wealth Management is undergoing a period of intense technological transformation spurred by changing client needs and expectations including digital-first experiences, lower fees and the need for more information at their finger-tips.

ThoughtLab’s ‘Wealth and Asset Management 4.0’ neatly summarises the state of play through the following customer-centric statistics:

• 40% of investors say digital access has become a greater priority
• 75% of wealth executives expect digital interaction will be the norm in 2 years
• 89% of investors say their preferred channel will be mobile apps

For many firms, this is putting technology-enabled change at the top of their management agendas. Indeed, ‘61% of firms’ within the industry indicate their technology budget is ‘set to grow even larger over the next two years.’ No doubt, Covid-19 has something to do with this – according to McKinsey’s Global Survey of executives in 2020, the digital disruption presented by the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation process by three or four years. It is important to stress the word ‘accelerate’ here. Covid alone has not created the need for transformation; it has merely served to highlight a pre-existing transformation need. In 2022, a Capgemini report stated that 95% of banking executives say ‘legacy systems and outdated core
banking modules’ are still inhibiting ‘customer-centric growth strategies’.

Given this background, it can be tempting for firms to jump head-first into transformation programs. But rarely is it feasible – pragmatically speaking or for budgetary reasons – to transform on a wholesale basis. Firms must prioritise; pick and choose what to transform first. The business case plays a key role in that process; arguably the central role. As for what the business case production process looks like. Well, typically, firms will calculate expected financial benefits of a given transformation proposal and offset those against the expected costs, enabling a picture of the total value of the proposal to the business and of the return on investment. On the face of it, it’s a rather simple exercise. Yet the following statistic from Gartner may give pause for thought; 35% of transformation projects fail to prove out their original business case. Clearly then, there are certain pitfalls to be avoided during the business case production process. Avoiding these can help a firm ensure that they are not one of that 35%; that they are making the best possible business decisions at a given point in time and achieving the results they expect.