Harvard Business Review Guides Ultimate Boxed Set (16 Books)

Chapter 11

Account for Risks

After you’ve run the ROI, you still have some number crunching left to do. None of the ROI techniques will account for risks, so it’s a separate step to identify them and consider what impact they’ll have on your final figures.

Gut-Check the Numbers

If you’re looking at a low ROI and thinking, “Wait—I thought this was going to be a great project,” question your numbers. Could you have underestimated revenue? Or overestimated transition costs? Or entered a wrong figure? (As you’d imagine, leaving off a zero makes a big difference.) Scrutinize each line item and ask whether the number—or the timing—could be off.

You may need to go back to your subject-matter experts and ask them to double-check their estimates. For ...