By Michael K. Adonteng September 22nd, 2026

The Business Case: Building ROI Arguments That Survive Procurement

The real test of a business case is not whether it persuades the person you presented it to.

It’s whether that person can then present it, unassisted, to a finance director or a board, and have it survive.

Most business cases fail this test.

Not because the value proposition is weak. 

Because the case was built to be delivered by the seller, not defended by the client.

ROI Is a Starting Point, Not the Whole Argument

Return on investment is necessary but incomplete on its own.

Total cost of ownership gets scrutinised harder than headline ROI. Implementation cost. Training time. Ongoing support. 

Naming these upfront, rather than letting procurement discover them later, makes a seller more credible. Not less.

Build the Case From the Client’s Own Numbers

The strongest business cases are built from figures the client validated during discovery. Not generic industry benchmarks.

Companies like yours typically save 20% and are easy to reject. Your own operations team confirmed this costs two staff days a month is much harder to argue against. 

Because disputing it means disputing their own colleague.

Structure That Survives Being Forwarded Without You

A business case that will be forwarded internally needs to work as a standalone document.

A one-paragraph executive summary. A clearly labelled current-state cost. A clearly labelled ideal-state value. An honest total cost of ownership. A specific recommendation. 

It shouldn’t need the seller’s verbal explanation to make sense.

Address Objections Inside the Case Itself

The strongest business cases anticipate the two or three likely objections and address them directly within the document. 

Rather than waiting for procurement to raise them under time pressure.

Frame Risk Honestly

Buyers who only hear about the upside of change tend to default to inaction.

Usually the most expensive decision, quietly, over time. 

Name the risk of switching. Name the cost of staying the same.

This Week

Take your current best proposal and hand it, without any context, to a colleague unfamiliar with the deal.

Ask them to summarise the business case back to you in two sentences. 

If they can’t, procurement won’t either.

Final Thought

A business case that only survives the room it was presented in isn’t a business case. It’s a pitch with numbers attached. 

If you want the ROI and total cost of ownership business case template we use with clients, request it and we’ll share the structure.

Explore our articles section for other topics of interest.

Michael K. Adonteng
Founder, ASA

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