{"slug":"business/29-roi-framework","title":"29 — ROI Framework","section":"business","sectionLabel":"Business","status":"unclassified","type":"document","path":"business/29-roi-framework.mdx","bytes":5357,"description":null,"updated":null,"source":"integratewise/Integratewise-docs-wiki","content":"\nStatus: CANONICAL · Commercial OS\nOwner: Sales + Finance\nLast verified: 2026-07-21\n\n---\n\n## Purpose\n\nThe one ROI model used in every proposal, renewal, and board slide — with conservative/base/aggressive variants and honest rules. Consistency matters more than flattery: a defensible 8x beats a fragile 30x.\n\n**Target audience:** Sales (proposals), CS (renewals/QBRs), buyers' finance teams (who will check the math).\n\n---\n\n## 1. The Core Model (Value Stream 1 — time)\n\n```\nROI(monthly) = [ H × D × C × A × N ] ÷ [ N × P ]\n\nH = hours/day currently on context gathering + prep   (from discovery; default 3.0 for CSMs)\nD = working days/month                                 (22)\nC = fully loaded hourly cost                           (default $65; use customer's number)\nA = adoption × capture factor                          (conservative 0.4 · base 0.6 · aggressive 0.8)\nN = seats\nP = price per seat/month                               (tier price — [30 Pricing](30-pricing-strategy.md))\n```\n\n**Worked example — 20 CSM seats, Command ($119):**\n\n| Scenario     | A   | Monthly value                           | Monthly cost | ROI       |\n| ------------ | --- | --------------------------------------- | ------------ | --------- |\n| Conservative | 0.4 | 3.0 × 22 × $65 × 0.4 × 20 = **$34,320** | $2,380       | **14.4x** |\n| Base         | 0.6 | **$51,480**                             | $2,380       | **21.6x** |\n| Aggressive   | 0.8 | **$68,640**                             | $2,380       | **28.8x** |\n\nPayback: under one week in all scenarios. Canonical spoken form (matches [close playbook](../../sales/close-playbook.md)): _\"Three hours a day, twenty people, $65 an hour — that's $85,800 a month in reconstruction work. Even if we only capture 40%, IntegrateWise pays for itself in the first week.\"_\n\n**Rules:** H and C always come from the customer's own discovery answers — never defaults in a live proposal. A never exceeds 0.8 in writing. Present conservative _first_; let the buyer argue upward (they will — it's their own number).\n\n## 2. The Extension Models (quantify when discovery surfaced them)\n\n**Decision value (Stream 2):**\n\n```\nChurn catches: at-risk ARR identified early × historical save-rate uplift (default +15%)\nExpansion catches: surfaced opportunities × close rate × avg expansion ACV\n```\n\nExample: one 60-day-early catch on a $120K account with +15% save uplift = $18K expected value — several months of subscription in one catch. Rule: only claim after the first real catch exists in _their_ tenant (POV makes this concrete — [37](../07-sales/37-sales-playbook.md)).\n\n**Continuity value (Stream 3):**\n\n```\nRamp: (weeks-to-productive_before − after) × weekly loaded cost × hires/year\nHandover: hours/handover saved × handovers/year × C\nAttrition insurance: qualitative until tenure data exists — narrate, don't number\n```\n\n**AI-spend consolidation (when they have burned copilot budget):** current AI seats delivering email-drafting only × seat cost — position as reallocation, not addition. (\"You're already paying for AI your team demoted.\")\n\n## 3. TCO Honesty Box (include in every proposal — builds more trust than it costs)\n\n| Cost           | Our answer                                                                                                                      |\n| -------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |\n| Subscription   | Per-seat, tier-priced, no platform fee ([30](30-pricing-strategy.md))                                                           |\n| Implementation | No services fee; connectors are OAuth self-serve; first value same-day ([45](../08-customer-success/45-onboarding-playbook.md)) |\n| Admin burden   | No rules engine to maintain (contrast Gainsight card [09 §4](../02-category-market/09-competitive-battle-cards.md))             |\n| Training       | Control grammar is 4 verbs; enablement in one session                                                                           |\n| Exit           | Spine export anytime, open format — leaving is priced at zero by design                                                         |\n\n## 4. ROI Presentation Rules\n\n1. One slide, their numbers, three scenarios, payback line. Never a 40-cell spreadsheet first.\n2. Time value anchors; decision/continuity value _narrates_ (numbers only when their data supports it).\n3. Every figure traceable to a discovery answer — \"your team told us H=2.5\" beats any benchmark.\n4. Leave the model with them, editable. Confidence in the math is the message.\n5. Renewals reuse the same model with **realized** numbers from outcome reviews ([28 §4](28-customer-outcomes.md)) — the ROI slide at renewal is the ROI slide from the proposal, filled in.\n\n**KPIs:** % proposals with customer-specific ROI (100%); ROI-slide → commit conversion; realized-vs-promised ratio at first renewal (target ≥ 0.8 — tracked honestly, [75](../13-operations/75-customer-success-metrics.md)).\n\n---\n\n**Related:** [16 Value Proposition](../03-positioning-messaging/16-value-proposition.md) · [28 Customer Outcomes](28-customer-outcomes.md) · [30 Pricing Strategy](30-pricing-strategy.md) · [37 Sales Playbook](../07-sales/37-sales-playbook.md)\n"}