Total Value of Ownership White Paper

The Challenge

The primary challenge Yeager faced in developing this white paper was developing an innovative way to showcase the unique value LIT offers. The goal was to differentiate what they provide from the traditional cost-savings message. Yeager also wanted to help the reader understand why LIT’s solution matters more now due to new changes in accounting regulations that will impact how companies recognize technology assets. These are complicated topics requiring deep insight into technology trends, financial regulations and cloud solutions.

The Solution

Yeager started by getting clear on who we were writing the paper for. While that may seem obvious, technology-oriented papers are typically written to an IT audience. In this case, due to the multi-faceted aspect of what we wanted to communicate, we decided to extend the audience outside of the CTO/CIO persona and to include the CFO and CEO. The nature of regulation changes and preferences for technology consumption paved the way for companies to think differently about their technology investments across the business. While historically companies look at Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) as a key metric aligned solely to cost, we decided to frame our paper around introducing the idea of ​Total Value of Ownership (TVO)​ where the cost becomes a single variable in a complex equation that includes the value of​ ​business agility, specifically the ability to stand up assets in minutes instead of months, as well as the value of people, specifically maximizing their time and efforts to produce at their highest level of potential.

This new way of thinking about the Total Value of Ownership has made IT purchasing a cross-functional business discussion, with new, line-of-business stakeholders becoming involved, and every facet of the conversation wrapped in the context of disruption. New consumption and subscription models for IT architecture, emerging and innovative funding strategies, shifts in consumer habits and demands, fluctuations to the project roadmap, and changes to your company’s financial standing are all considerable factors when formulating an IT data center purchase strategy. Finding the right purchasing model financially benefits a company and maximizes both savings and potential for delivery and profit.

The Results

With this paper, Yeager sought to have LIT reframe how companies view their technology investments and to shift the thinking away from a cost-only message to a holistic value message. As preferences around technology consumption have changed, we seized the opportunity to have a new conversation with an extended audience that includes IT but also speaks to operational stakeholders in finance and business operations. The paper created an inroad to have financial conversations about IT and to bring critical thought leadership to help business leaders make smart decisions when it comes to their technology investments.