How to Calculate Your Unified Messaging ROI

Calculating the ROI on unified messaging is critical in understanding its business value, but the complex variables are difficult to quantify.  By narrowing ROI down to its basic components, investment and revenue, you can determine your rate of return and make a solid business case.

Company Investment

One of the first things you will need to consider is the cost of implementing unified messaging.  Taking care to assess the market and plan your employment can help ensure your success.  There are many factors that should be calculated into your potential investment amount, and failing to consider any one factor can negatively impact your ROI.  You should remember to include:

Cost of labor hours/wages for new hires, dedicated employees, and contractors
Price of any new equipment or software necessary for implementation
Cost of rented or leased equipment
Opportunity cost, which means the costs associated with choosing this project over the next best alternative
Monthly service costs

Savings and Generated Revenue

Streamlined communication in itself is a boon to your business but evaluating it numerically could get complicated.  When determining ROI for unified messaging, you should consider the revenue that will be a direct result of implementing the new technology, as well as the savings that your business will incur.  There are three major areas where unified messaging savings and profit can be quantified. 

1. Employee Productivity. Consider how much time each employee is likely to save with the implementation of unified messaging.  Using an average hourly salary for all of your employees, you can add up the savings per week, per month, or per year.  For a conservative estimate, you will probably want to account for those employees who may not use the time savings productively, probably halving the final total.  For example, unified messaging saves employees in Company A an average of 30 minutes per day.  If the average hourly wage is $30 per hour, you can estimate a savings of $15 saved per employee per day.  Added up between all employees for a month or a year, even when cutting the total in half to account for less productive employees, this can quickly amount to millions in savings.
 
2. Increased Sales and Better Customer Service.  The time saved from using unified messaging can be dedicated to taking more calls, which cuts down on hold times and can increase sales that may have been lost due to missed opportunities.  Also, when employees are able to quickly consult with their co-workers and get customers the information they need, the result will be faster resolution times, increased sales, and a decrease in call lengths (leading to more calls answered).  Determine the average number of sales that are typically closed and your total sales revenue.  When you factor in more calls being taken, along with shorter hold times, decreased call lengths, faster resolutions, and a better customer perception of your business, you can determine a reasonable estimate of your increased sales.

3. Monthly Service Savings.  Consider the hard numbers for how much you will save on your communication services each month.  By eliminating the need for a variety of separate service-providers, companies will almost always see a marked decrease in monthly service expenditures.

Determining Payback Horizon

Your payback horizon, meaning the point at which your business begins to see a profit from using unified messaging, is a relatively easy calculation.  By annualizing your savings, you can come up with a clear monthly average.  Each month, subtract the monthly savings from your initial investment costs.

For example, Company A invests $100,000 in unified messaging.  Their use of unified messaging saves them $10,000 per month.  If you subtract $10,000 from the initial investment amount every month, in ten months the investment will be fully paid off and the company begins to see a return.

Calculating ROI

A positive ROI occurs when reduced costs, coupled with increased revenue, exceed the cost of implementation.  The formula for calculating a company’s ROI is:

ROI = [(Revenue-Investment)/Investment]*100

At the start of any initiative ROI will be -100% because you will not have earned any revenue or savings from using unified messaging.  At your payback horizon, your ROI will be 0% where return equals the investment you put in.  Once your profit begins to exceed your investment, you will begin seeing a positive return on your investment and your ROI ratio will continue to grow along with your revenue.