Data Ecosystem Modernization ROI: Measurement Frameworks and Case Studies

Authors: Kuladeep Sandra

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37082/IJIRMPS.v12.i6.233065

Short DOI: https://doi.org/hbxvf8

Country: United States

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Abstract: Data platform modernization is one of the more expensive bets a CIO can make, and the return on that investment is one of the harder things to measure honestly. This paper presents a framework for measuring data modernization ROI grounded in a detailed case study of a $6 million investment in a data engineering organization supporting 6 business units across insurance, banking, and manufacturing. The case study documents both the successful outcomes (approximately $1.5 million in annual storage savings, 37 percent data error reduction, query performance improvements from 45 minutes to 8 minutes, 95 percent governance compliance, recovery of around 47 days of analyst time annually, $2.4 million in backlog cleared, three resolved compliance gaps) and the hidden costs that the original budget did not anticipate (12-week hardware procurement delay, 7 months of team upskilling against a 3-month budget, 18-month governance adoption lag). The paper addresses three research questions: how data modernization ROI should be measured given the limitations of standard IT value frameworks; how the pitch should be framed to secure the investment in the first place; and how the outcomes should be tracked over time to validate the ROI story. The paper also documents the meta-lesson about the pitch itself: the first attempt to secure the budget framed modernization as technical infrastructure improvement and failed; the second attempt framed it as business outcomes and succeeded. The thesis is that ROI in data modernization is a story told over time rather than a calculation done once, and that the practitioners who succeed at it are the ones who learn to translate technical work into the language of the people who control the budget.

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Paper Id: 233065

Published On: 2024-11-15

Published In: Volume 12, Issue 6, November-December 2024

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