Cost/Benefit Analysis
Evaluation Quantitatively Whether to Follow a Course of Action:
You may have been intensely creative in generating solutions to a problem, and rigorous in your selection of the best one available. However, this solution may still not be worth implementing, as you may invest a lot of time and money in solving a problem that is not worthy of this effort.
Cost Benefit Analysis or CBA is a relatively* simple and widely used technique for deciding whether to make a change. As its name suggests, you simply add up the value of the benefits of a course of action, and subtract the costs associated with it.
Costs are either one-off, or may be ongoing. Benefits are most often received over time. We build this effect of time into our analysis by calculating a payback period. This is the time it takes for the benefits of a change to repay its costs. Many companies look for payback on projects over a specified period of time e.g. three years.
In its simple form, cost-benefit analysis is carried out using only financial costs and financial benefits. For example, a simple cost benefit ratio for a road scheme would measure the cost of building the road, and subtract this from the economic benefit of improving transport links. It would not measure either the cost of environmental damage or the benefit of quicker and easier travel to work.
A more sophisticated approach to building a cost benefit models is to try to put a financial value on intangible costs and benefits. This can be highly subjective - is, for example, a historic water meadow worth $25,000, or is it worth $500,000 because if its environmental importance? What is the value of stress-free travel to work in the morning?
These are all questions that people have to answer, and answers that people have to defend.
Example:
A sales director is deciding whether to implement a new computer-based contact management and sales processing system. His department has only a few computers, and his salespeople are not computer literate. He is aware that computerized sales forces are able to contact more customers and give a higher quality of reliability and service to those customers. They are more able to meet commitments, and can work more efficiently with fulfillment and delivery staff.
His financial cost/benefit analysis is shown below:
Costs:
New computer equipment:
-
10 network-ready PCs with supporting software @ $2,450 each
- 1 server @ $3,500
- 3 printers @ $1,200 each
- Cabling & Installation @ $4,600
- Sales Support Software @ $15,000
Training costs:
- Computer introduction - 8 people @ $400 each
- Keyboard skills - 8 people @ $400 each
- Sales Support System - 12 people @ $700 each
Other costs:
- Lost time: 40 man days @ $200 / day
- Lost sales through disruption: estimate: $20,000
- Lost sales through inefficiency during first months: estimate: $20,000
Total cost: $114,000
Benefits:
- Tripling of mail shot capacity: estimate: $40,000 / year
- Ability to sustain telesales campaigns: estimate: $20,000 / year
- Improved efficiency and reliability of follow-up: estimate: $50,000 / year
- Improved customer service and retention: estimate: $30,000 / year
- Improved accuracy of customer information: estimate: $10,000 / year
- More ability to manage sales effort: $30,000 / year
Total Benefit: $180,000/year
Payback time: $114,000 / $180,000 = 0.63 of a year = approx. 8 months
Inevitably the estimates of the benefit given by the new system are quite subjective. Despite this, the Sales Director is very likely to introduce it, given the short payback time.
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