Winning business cases focus on time-bound, evidenced value rather than tool enthusiasm. Establish the “current cost of work” with a defensible baseline: labor hours per case, rework rates, waiting time, call volume, shadow IT spend, compliance exceptions, and tool sprawl. Quantify the value levers ServiceNow unlocks: self-service deflection, straight-through processing, fewer handoffs, improved right-first-time, reduced audit findings, and better employee/customer satisfaction. Convert these into annualized savings and growth enablement (e.g., faster onboarding -> quicker revenue productivity). Distinguish one-time costs (licenses, implementation, data cleansing, integrations) from run costs (platform team, support, continuous improvement). Include a realism factor (e.g., 70–80% realization in year one) and a time-to-value plan with 90/180/365-day checkpoints. Commit to benefits tracking in-platform; dashboards must reflect the same KPIs used to justify the investment. Address risk with control strengthening (policy-as-code, approval conditioning, automated evidence) and resilience (HA, backups, regression suites). Finally, make it cross-functional: Finance validates assumptions, HR/IT/Operations co-own outcomes, and Internal Audit signs off on control improvements. The result: a business case that reads like an investment memo, not a technology wishlist.
