To some business people, non financial benefits are soft benefits. Unfortunately, soft benefits are often treated as second class citizens in the business case.
When non financial outcomes help meet important, they deserve value and a place in the business case.
Important benefits from an action are sometimes hard to value in financial terms. Are these benefits soft benefits? Or, real business benefits that belong in the business case?
The answer to such questions can be an emphatic Yes! Outcomes qualify as business benefits if they meet two conditions.
- Outcomes contribute to meeting important business objectives.
- There is tangible evidence for the outcomes.