Where Are the Business Benefits Invested? Are We Tracking and Realizing Our Benefits?

Abstract

What is clear from this definition is that benefits are an outcome of change. Organizations tend to manage change through programs and projects and it is these that will deliver the benefits to the organization. Business benefits describe the value to an organization that a change provides. This can be described using a variety of measures and will include tangible and intangible benefits, both financial and nonfinancial.

Benefits are an often talked about thing within the portfolio, program, and project environment. But what actually is a business benefit?

One definition offered by the Office of Government and Commerce in their Managing Successful Programs guidance is:

A benefit is an outcome of change that is perceived as positive by stakeholders.

(OGC Definition)