TCC (Total Cost of Change) is a way of calculating the cost of an investment; by looking at the ability to make e-commerce solution changes, going forward. Traditional ROI mostly looks back in time; which is dangerous, since the likelihood of the biggest changes are probably ahead of you – especially when it comes to e-commerce!
If you are facing a systems change, or acquisition of a new e-commerce solution, you should instead consider a number of change scenarios; and assess how likely they are, within the lifetime of your e-commerce solution. This is called, the “Total Cost of Change” (TCC).
Examples of likely scenarios are: the change of front-end (CMS) or POS systems; the addition of new sales channels; the change of business partners, in different parts of the process; new payment services; PIM systems; business systems; warehouse systems; shipping providers; and so on.
The idea is to evaluate the cost centers; in order to be able to be responsive to changing requirements from customers and changes in their own operations. TCC is a good complement to “Total Cost of Ownership” (TCO); which looks at costs of the implementation project, licenses, and support and management of the solution.
We recommend that you request price quotes, from your various service providers; to provide you with operational leeway in your e-commerce solution, for the various scenarios you outline for the future.
Remember to:
• Choose an architecture that does not lead to undesired systems constrictions.
• Minimize delivery risks, by choosing a SaaS service.