As your data center and IT requirements continue to grow, so do your technology investment and operational costs. Although the need to economize is more pressing than ever, companies also need to stay competitive by selecting their most strategic investments. Two questions become important: First, which key projects deliver the best return on investment (ROI)? Secondly, how quickly can you realize these savings through fast budget approvals and execution? To pursue any type of data center project responsibly is to completely understand the short- and long-term financial implications of large-scale technology investments.

If you do not have the time, resources, or data required to create accurate business cases to justify your key data center and IT initiatives for your CFO or board members, you are in the majority. In the following sections, we will explore the budget approval process, types of ROI analyses, business case development methodology, best practices, and three real world HP client examples.