Beyond the Wow

Top of mind for most leaders, when considering large technology expenditures, is the notion of return on investment (ROI).  For educators, return on investment appears too murky and difficult to measure, at least at first blush. Educational institutions rarely invest in capital, sell widgets, and then earn a profit.

Enter the close cousin of ROI: cost avoidance. In this line of thinking, costs can either be reduced or avoided. There are both hard costs and soft costs that can be reduced. Cost avoidance can make a technology investment well worth the money spent, often carving out savings from existing limited resources or expenditures.

Cost avoidance can appeal to educators. You are starting to speak their language.  Yes, you can use 3D to promote “engagement,” “wow factor,” or technical wizardry as your primary value message—but nothing quite sells as well as cost avoidance. In next week’s post, we will learn how cost avoidance works in educational 3D. Stay tuned.