Defining the Value of a Digital Project to Maximise ROI

You have an idea. An app, a platform, a website. You're convinced it will change something. But... change what, for whom, and to what end? As long as you haven't defined the true value of a digital project, you run the risk of building a complex machine that will be poorly used, poorly adopted, and that won't meet any specific need.

It's a common reflex: you start headlong. But if you want it to be (really) useful, you need to slow down and ask the question:

What is this project going to be used for? To whom? And what does success mean?

1. It's not (just) a question of tools

A site or an app is worthless if it has no identified role, mission or impact. Creating a ‘space’, a ‘repository‘, a ‘portal’... it's all vague. And what is vague quickly turns into a gas factory.

Classic example:

‘We want to digitalise customer relations.’

• Yes, but why? To save time? Respond better? To qualify leads?
• And how will we know it's working?

💡 Ask these 3 simple questions:

1. Who's going to use it? (really)
2. In what context? (at what time of day?)
3. What will it change for them? (gain? clarity? autonomy?)

2. Identify perceived value before delivered value

A successful digital project is not one that ‘does everything it was supposed to do’. It's a project that has a visible effect: on people, on the organisation, on results.

‘We want to create a bespoke business CRM.’

• OK, but what value will users experience on a daily basis?
• Fewer errors? Less double entry? More clarity on priorities?

🔎 Sometimes all it takes is 2 well-thought-out screens to make all the difference.
Before thinking ’functionality’, think ’frustration to be eliminated’ or ’positive effect to be triggered’.

3. Warning: the more players involved, the clearer the value of a digital project needs to be

A digital project with 3 stakeholders (management, users, service providers) is a playground... and a vague one. If you don't formalize the shared value, everyone moves forward with their own definition of success.