What metrics or data points do you find most compelling when demonstrating the business value of technology investments to non-technical stakeholders?
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I would say showcase real use cases, proven examples, Gartner references are great too, corresponding value and $. Finance slides should clearly display costs clearly for opex/capex as well as anything below the line or sunken costs that may not be clear. Use layman's terms where possible, avoid the minutia and save for the appendix where possible.
We recently used a view for non-tech c-level and board executives that received appreciation.
It is for banking domain and you may alter it for your required domain.
The first slide: evolving view of modern banking in terms of business, experience and technical capabilities
The second slide: list of projects executed or inflight on the same view of modern banking with list of technologies implemented as a separate list of logos. The project name box included the logos of top technologies used in that particular project. This made few platforms visible clearly.
The third slide: labeling the projects with $ (revenue generated), operational efficiency, customer experience, or brand value. This clearly showed the power of transformation of each technology.
The forth slide: The future view for next 3 years. The projects and technologies that will be deployed in line with the transformation objectives or aligned with the evolving view of modern banking.
When I’m showing the value of a tech investment to non-technical stakeholders, I focus on a few key areas. First is adoption and usage—how many people are using the tool and how often. If it’s becoming part of their daily workflow, that’s a strong signal we’re on the right track. Next, I look at productivity gains, like faster cycle times or fewer manual steps. If teams are getting more done with less friction, that’s a positive outcome. Cost avoidance and efficiency gains are also important—whether we’re saving time, reducing overhead, or avoiding future spending, those numbers tend to resonate, particularly when we’re talking about initiatives related to artificial intelligence. Finally, I bring in external benchmarking to show how the company compares to peers or industry standards. It adds credibility and helps frame the investment as a strategic move, not just a tech upgrade.