Thanks for your thoughts Laurie.  I am in the private law firm industry.
Unfortunately, that approach hasn't worked here (that is what the IT
director has been trying to accomplish but couldn't even get
"exploratory" funding).  I am still pretty new here but it appears to me
that the hold-up isn't necessarily sticker shock, rather it is a
complete lack of an answer to "what's in it for me".  The executives
just aren't grasping what it is or how it really provides a value.

I am taking your approach though by choosing a real pain point to
automate first - our new business intake process.  That process is our
life-blood, the beginning of money coming in the door.  That will appeal
to our attorneys and the Board, however my business case will also
include goodies for our Professional Liability Partner in re: conflicts
checking and other risk mitigation processes, metrics capabilities for
our COO, overtime approvals for our CEO (a current pet project of his)
and other slice of life stuff that they care about.

I am planning to couple the business case with a cost proposal that will
be first-step actionable (meaning it is a high, rough dollar amount that
will be fine-tuned once their commitment is granted).

Thanks again to everyone for your support on this topic and everything
else over the years!

Julie

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