One of the best things you can do for your company -- and your

career -- is to implement some of the great technology that's

currently available for credit and A/R systems. In fact, it's not

an understatement to say that in today's environment, a savvy

technology purchase may actually save your job! But it's never an

easy task to justify spending money, even if the investment will

save you many times the cost.

So what do you do?

According to David Caldwell, director of credit for Emerson and chairman of the Credit Research Foundation (www.CRFOnline.org), you must quantify not only the predictable benefits, but also the hidden, and usually underestimated, costs of a technology purchase. Use a spreadsheet to put the numbers together.

Caldwell also suggests that you "challenge all assumptions." He noted that "55 percent of projects fail to meet ROI expectations," a prime reason being a failure to anticipate the full impact of the project. Along these lines, Caldwell identifies five qualifiers for determining if a technology solution is appropriate, but only if you have verified that the underlying assumptions apply to your situation:

• Breadth: The more users the better.
• Complexity: The more difficult, time-consuming work automated

  the better.

• Importance: The more critical the work the better -- "If it's

  not critical, maybe you should outsource instead."

• Significance: The more the solution compliments long-term goals

  the better: "A leap in technology allows for planned

  organizational reengineering."

• Value: The sooner the victory the better -- Look to at least

  achieve a positive investment in the first year, but depending on

  your situation, a bolt-on solution may be able to give you a pay-

  back in only a few months.

The bottom line is to be as thorough and as objective as possible.

This is obviously important for understanding the true economic

impact of a software solution. It is also a good planning

exercise that will help you recognize all the contingencies that

need to be addressed should you get approval for your project.