Beyond traditional ROI: A new framework for emerging technology investments

The technology solutions industry is experiencing significant disruption, with emerging technologies reshaping how we evaluate and implement new capabilities. As technology leaders face increasing pressure to adopt these innovations, traditional approaches to measuring return on investment (ROI) may no longer apply.

Having sat on two panels on this topic and participated in numerous client discussions, I've seen firsthand a fundamental shift in how organizations approach technology investment decisions. We need a different approach to evaluating these investments - one that accounts for their unique characteristics and strategic importance.

Why traditional ROI calculations no longer work

For decades, technology investments followed predictable patterns. When replacing a block of PCs or evaluating infrastructure upgrades, organizations could rely on straightforward calculations with clearly defined parameters. You could identify direct cost savings and project revenue impacts and calculate a reliable ROI within a specific timeframe.

Emerging technologies operate on entirely different principles. The investment is primarily geared toward understanding the technology and how it might impact your business rather than delivering immediate, quantifiable returns.

Consider AI implementations. Most organizations begin with proof-of-concept initiatives aimed not at immediate cost reduction but at exploring capabilities and potential applications. The primary value comes from learning and positioning rather than immediate operational improvements.

This exploration-focused approach doesn't fit neatly into traditional ROI templates. There's rarely a definitive calculation where you can predict saving X dollars by implementing Y technology.

The dual focus of emerging technology investments

Technology investments now serve dual purposes that traditional metrics struggle to capture – and organizations need to understand both aspects.

First, they help enhance internal operations and reduce delivery costs. Emerging technologies offer opportunities to create scale without proportional resource increases. Rather than immediate cost reduction, the focus shifts to future capabilities – allowing growth without corresponding increases in overhead. This represents future versus current savings, a distinction that traditional ROI models handle poorly.

Second, they enable potential external commercial offerings. Organizations can develop new services or enhance existing ones with emerging technology capabilities.

Third, they position companies competitively in the marketplace. When clients ask about your AI or quantum computing capabilities, having nothing to show significantly damages credibility. You can't even have the discussion. How do you quantify the value of staying relevant in client discussions? What's the cost of being excluded from consideration because you can't demonstrate technological competence?

The defensive value proposition

Some technology investments serve primarily defensive purposes. Turn your lens to cybersecurity applications of emerging technologies. As malicious actors leverage advanced technologies to create new vulnerabilities, organizations must invest defensively to protect their digital estates.

These investments don't generate traditional returns – they prevent potential disasters. Conventional ROI models struggle to quantify the value of prevented incidents, creating challenges for technology leaders to justify these necessary investments.

A new framework for evaluation

Given these new realities, organizations need to adopt different approaches to technology investment evaluation. For at least the short term, we must set aside traditional ROI calculations and consider broader metrics that include:

• Qualitative rather than purely quantitative factors
• Strategic alignment and positioning value
• Prevention capabilities and risk mitigation
• Future scalability and capabilities rather than immediate returns

This requires less reliance on historical return models and greater emphasis on how technology investments align with organizational strategy and future market positioning.

Success depends on having faith that emerging technologies will ultimately make your organization better, stronger, and faster – even when you can't fully quantify those benefits today. This represents a significant shift in how organizations budget for innovation, communicate with boards and engage with clients. Milestones are fuzzier – they're not as definitive as "this many dollars in Q1." They're more about preventative measures and protective measures.

Leadership and organizational culture

Building support for this new way of evaluating emerging technology investments requires addressing what matters to stakeholders at multiple levels.

For individual contributors, emerging technologies offer opportunities to experiment with innovations, enhancing their skills and broadening their technological acumen. This professional development aspect creates natural enthusiasm and engagement. That's pretty easy to communicate.

For organizational leaders, the value proposition centers on competitive positioning. Emerging technologies, especially for mid-sized organizations competing against larger peers, provide ways to overcome scale disadvantages. At Unisys, emerging technologies allow us to increase capabilities and volume without proportional headcount increases, essentially leveling the playing field against larger competitors.

The cultural challenge lies in communicating these benefits appropriately. Associates need to understand that the goal isn't workforce reduction but enabling growth without corresponding resource increases. By tying technology investments to development opportunities and organizational advancement, leaders can build sustainable support for these initiatives.

Avoiding technology for technology's sake

While embracing innovation, organizations must maintain discipline about which technologies merit investment. The big thing is not tech for tech's sake – and not everything deserves investment.

Without structure, companies often accumulate multiple similar technologies that perform overlapping functions, creating integration challenges and preventing effective scaling. I've seen organizations end up with 15 similar technologies that do the same things but can't scale it because nothing is interoperable.

The key is developing a structured approach that connects emerging technology exploration to your core offerings and strategic roadmap. At Unisys, our enterprise CTO organization includes a chief architect who is aligned with solution development across business units. This structure ensures we evaluate emerging technologies about our solution roadmaps, asking critical questions:

• Is this capability already in our roadmap?
• If not, should it be?
• Why are we not considering this technology in our future planning?

This approach prevents pursuing technology for its own sake while ensuring we maintain awareness of innovations that could enhance our core offerings.

Cross-functional collaboration for maximum impact

Bridging organizational silos is essential to evaluate technology effectively. At Unisys, we run a "Solutions Forum" that brings together our top 100 technologists quarterly to discuss emerging technologies and client needs.

This approach emphasizes holistic, client-centered solutions rather than internal organizational structures. Clients want solutions that address their business challenges, and that has nothing to do with how your company is organized internally. We ensure innovations translate into meaningful client value by focusing discussions on business outcomes rather than technology categories.

Moving forward in uncertainty

Moving forward requires balancing exploration with discipline. Companies need to experiment enough to understand what these technologies can do, but they've got to stay focused on their core business.

I think success comes down to looking at both the soft and hard returns of these investments. You need frameworks that consider the qualitative benefits alongside the numbers. Even when you can't calculate a traditional ROI, you can still make good decisions by focusing on strategic alignment and future capabilities.

The companies that will get ahead are the ones that can maintain this balance - they don't chase every shiny new technology, but they don't ignore innovation either. They keep a disciplined connection between these emerging technologies and their business objectives.

Interested in learning more?

Unisys helps organizations navigate emerging technology decisions with practical, business-focused approaches. Contact us to explore how we can help you develop effective strategies for evaluating and implementing next-generation technologies.