Summary

Today's environment is characterized by an increased degree of financial scrutiny and accountability. The necessity for a holistic and robust business case is more dominant than ever before. As such, an exhaustive understanding and assessment of all the costs, benefits, and risks associated with WLAN deployments lies on the critical path to successfully using WLANs in your organizational ecosystem.

Business leadership is not limited to cost control. Strategic drivers such as increasing customer satisfaction or decreasing customer churn drive the top line. Increasing or sustaining the top line is at least as important as reductions in operating expenses.

This chapter focused on the strategic, tactical, and financial business considerations when evaluating WLAN solutions for your institution. It introduced you to methodologies and frameworks that facilitate the process of business-technology alignment and the identification of key application areas of WLANs within the organization. The strategic, operational, financial, and technological impact of WLANs on the value-creation process of your organization was touched upon, as were the benefits and constraints of wireless compared to wired solutions.

This chapter also covered the process of performing a thorough cost-justification analysis. Parameters such as TCO and benefits that can readily be quantified were discussed. Furthermore, intangible benefits that are related to the strategic impact of WLANs were revealed. Finally, risks associated with WLANs were clarified to ensure an exhaustive business case.

Finally, this chapter explained the standard methods for consolidating the cash flows of the identified costs and benefits into metrics that are meaningful to decision makers and stakeholders. The construction of the ROI, payback period, NPV, and IRR was further explained as were the pros and cons associated with each metric.

Armed with this knowledge, you are well positioned to tackle the next phase in constructing your WLAN business case. These phases consist of determining the specific WLAN design for your organization and strategies for effectively implementing and operating them. These are the topics of the next chapters.