How to Build a Business Case for an LCMS or eLearning Authoring Tool

Summary: Building a business case for an eLearning authoring tool or LCMS can feel daunting – but it doesn’t have to be! In this article, we take you through the step-by-step process of creating a compelling business case for a variety of stakeholders, including highlighting the business impact of a new tool, responding to common objections, and structuring your pitch or proposal for the best results.

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Every learning professional knows that the pressure to “do more with less” has never been greater.

Whether you’re being asked to cut costs or make do with your existing tools, it can be hard to justify adding a new tool to your stack. But adding the right tool can actually be hugely beneficial to your learning content creation process – especially when you’re creating content at scale across multiple distribution channels.

If you’re looking to procure a new eLearning authoring tool, you’ll need to build a watertight business case to get your business leaders and finance team on board. Read on to discover how to handle common objections, the metrics to include, and why enterprise-grade tools are worth the investment when producing learning at scale.

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Why building a business case is often the hardest part

It may surprise you to learn that finding a new eLearning authoring tool isn’t actually the trickiest part of the procurement process. Once you have a clear list of requirements and use cases, finding a tool that matches up can be surprisingly speedy.

It’s when you come to building a business case for your new authoring tool that the wheels can start to come off. Crafting a compelling business case requires balancing technical, financial, and strategic considerations, as well as selling the overall need for a tool (and your specific tool of choice) to your stakeholders.

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What to include in an authoring tool business case

Decision makers want clear evidence that the investment will drive measurable value, but quantifying the benefits of a creative, efficiency-driven tool can be tricky. While cost comparisons between vendors are straightforward, proving ROI often relies on less tangible outcomes, such as faster course creation, easier content management, or better learner experience.

You will also need to align the tool’s capabilities with your organizational goals – though different stakeholders will have different priorities (such as budget, data security, or increasing sales), all of which must be addressed neatly in your business case. As well as the organizational goals, you will also need to show how you will address potential risks, such as implementation challenges to potential resistance from course authors who are already used to your existing systems.

It’s easy to see, then, how creating a business case for your LCMS or eLearning authoring tool can end up being more complex than you’d initially imagined, which can slow your procurement down or stall it entirely, meaning you end up stuck with the outdated tool you’re currently using and miss out on the benefits of a powerful new authoring tool.

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Step 1: Define the problem

The first part of your business case should answer the question, “Why do we need a new content authoring tool?”. This will set the scene for your stakeholders and help them understand why you’re bringing this request to them, why now, and what problems the new tool will solve.

For instance, common problems our customers have shared, that led them to identifying dominKnow | ONE as a solution, include:

• “Current content is locked into a single format, and can’t be reused for other training modalities such as job aids to meet just-in-time, on-the-job learning needs.”
• “Our ability to distribute learning content in the ways our learners expect and need are limited.”
• “Our options for creating engaging, on-brand, responsive learning for multiple devices is extremely limited, resulting in anything but the basic designs to desktop-based eLearning experiences.”
• “Our current authoring tool limits our ability to create modern on-brand, engaging content with interactive media, assessments, and activities.”
• “Learning projects take too long to complete due to the lack of process and the number of people involved, along with inefficient collaborative processes.”
• “Updating content consumes too much LMS admin time and learners are often accessing content that is outdated, despite updates being completed by the learner team.”
• “Updating and distributing translated versions of our content is extremely time consuming, leading to delays and an inability to deliver updated content in all our target languages.” 
• “Our content isn’t accessible – visually impaired/colorblind/hard-of-hearing/neurodiverse employees find it difficult to access and use our content, meaning we’re not being inclusive enough, failing to adhere to accessibility standards, and missing opportunities for learning.”

In many cases, you may have multiple reasons for needing a new eLearning authoring tool. If this is the case, pick two or three of the strongest reasons to focus on in your business case to avoid diluting your message. 

It can also help if you can illustrate your problem with real examples – for instance: 

“Our 2025 compliance course updates took two months to complete because SMEs couldn’t collaborate on the review process. This caused us to miss our deadline, and we were two weeks late meeting our compliance training targets.”

This will help ground the problem in real business scenarios, and will show non-L&D experts why these problems matter on the business level.

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Step 2: Highlight the business impact

Once you’ve set out the problem you’re currently facing, it’s time to lay out your proposed solution. This should cover both how your chosen eLearning authoring tool will solve your problem, and the business impact of solving that problem.

The business impact you wish to highlight will depend on your specific problem and the business context, but examples of business impact that will appeal to a range of stakeholders include:

• Reduced development time and cost – Most stakeholders will care about time and money, and switching outdated, time-consuming processes and technology with modern solutions will help save both time and money through more efficient content creation, management, and distribution.
• Lower reliance on third-party vendors – If you typically rely on external resources for your content creation, procuring your own eLearning authoring tool can reduce outsourcing costs, enabling your team to manage updates, and give you greater control over timelines and quality.
• Scalability – A modern eLearning authoring tool can support more courses, formats, languages, and file types, enabling organizations to meet growing training demands for larger audiences without a proportional increase in headcount.
• Greater impact with personalized learning – While your different target audiences often have similar training needs, generic content can miss out import unique differences between groups and lead to lower overall impact. Enabling a cost-effective process for delivering targeted experiences to different groups yielding proportionally better results.
• Faster response to business needs – When your business introduces a new HR process or compliance policy, a modern authoring tool ensures you can get that information out to employees in minutes, not days, ensuring things get done properly, faster.
• Reduce costs and time to market for content translation – When multiple versions of content are needed to meet your organization’s needs, maintenance and updating costs increase exponentially. A solution that manages all language variations in a single package will lead to dramatically reduced development, maintenance, and distribution costs.
• Consistency and brand alignment – If you sell your content to an external audience, the right authoring tool will come equipped with built-in design systems and reusability, ensuring your learning content accurately reflects your brand with high-quality materials.
• Accessibility – Many organizations have policies around the accessibility of digital content, often as part of the DEI strategy. A modern LCMS or authoring tool will be built with accessibility in mind, ensuring you build accessible content that adheres to your corporate policies as standard for more compliant, inclusive learning.

This section should be relatively high level – you just need to give stakeholders a flavor of how your new authoring tool will solve your current challenge, and what the business benefits will look like. Save the specific numbers for the next section to keep your business case clear and logically structured.

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Step 3: Estimate ROI

In this section, you’ll want to draw on your L&D expertise and your authoring tool research to share the estimated ROI of your new tool with your stakeholders.

For many stakeholders, this will be the most compelling section, so be as thorough as possible to capture their attention.

The basic formula for estimating the ROI of your new tool is:

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‍ROI = (Total Benefits – Total Costs) ÷ Total Costs × 100%

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Comparing this with the ROI you get from your current solution can be a useful way to put the improvement into context.

The types of ROI your stakeholders will typically be looking for include:

• Cost savings – How much will your new eLearning authoring tool save compared with your current solution? For instance, is the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) cheaper, or will it save money on working with external course authors, or will one new tool replace several existing tools?
• Time savings – How much time will you save by switching to a new authoring tool? How much faster will it be to create, review, translate, distribute, and update learning content? If you can estimate rough labor hours saved (or if your chosen vendor can provide case studies from similar customers), it can make your business case even more compelling.
• Rework avoided – If you spend a lot of time and effort reworking or translating content (for instance, if your current tool doesn’t support collaboration), you can estimate how much time a new tool will save you on rework. This can be a useful metric for stakeholders who prioritize efficiency, as there will be less wasted time.
• Faster course delivery – It’s not just about course creation – it’s also about getting the right courses to the right people at the right time. Switching to a new authoring tool can significantly speed up course delivery, making it easier to abide by compliance guidelines and manage training deadlines.
• Increased sales – If you sell your eLearning courses to an external audience, improving the speed and quality of course creation could lead to an increase in course sales. Providing some comparative sales projections (current tool vs new tool) demonstrates clear ROI for your new eLearning authoring tool, and can help nudge money-focused stakeholders across the line.
• Impact of learning – With more targeted, engaging content, you will most likely see performance improve. While it can be difficult to measure the precise impact of learning, you can keep an eye out for improvements across your regular business targets (such as improvements in compliance and a reduction in costs associated with non-compliance), and compare performance before and after the launch of your new authoring tool. 

You don’t need to have exact figures, but showing you’ve done your research and have taken the time to crunch the numbers will be extremely compelling for the majority of stakeholders.

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Step 4: Address common objections

Preparing to respond to common objections to adopting a new eLearning authoring tool will put you and your business case in a much stronger position.

With almost 30 years of experience helping organizations find the right authoring tool, we’ve heard every objection under the sun, so we’re perfectly positioned to help you prepare your responses!

Here are some of the most common objections you’re likely to hear, alongside the best ways to overcome them: 

1. “It’s too expensive.”
   Response: Break down the total cost of ownership and compare it to savings in time, outsourcing, and compliance risk. The costs paid to your solution vendor are often the smallest part of the total cost of ownership. Show how faster production and reduced vendor reliance offset licence fees.
   
   
2. “Our team won’t have time to learn it.”
   Response: Highlight intuitive interfaces, built-in templates, and vendor-provided onboarding, training, and community support. Consider pilot projects or phased rollouts to build confidence without overwhelming the team.
   
   
3. “We already have a tool – why change?”
   Response: Compare your current limitations (e.g. lack of mobile support, clunky updates, no collaboration) with the new tool’s benefits. Frame it as enabling the team to meet modern learning needs, and ongoing costs and lost opportunities for the business of not replacing the current solution.
   
   
4. “It might not integrate with our LMS/tech stack.”
   Response: Confirm compatibility (SCORM, xAPI, LTI, etc.) and share vendor integration case studies. Offer to run a proof of concept to test workflows in your environment.

5. “We have too much content in our current authoring tool.”
   Response: Plan a gradual transition, starting with new (or smaller, lower-stakes) projects in the new tool while legacy content remains in the old one until it naturally phases out. Alternatively, if you’ve chosen a new authoring tool that allows you to import legacy content or convert existing eLearning projects, you can reassure stakeholders that there will be minimal disruption when making the switch.

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Step 5: Present the case

Structuring a pitch or proposal for your authoring tool business case probably isn’t as intimidating as it may initially seem! 

The most important thing is to get the structure right. Copying the structure we’ve outlined above will help you tell the story in the best possible way. Successful business cases will often follow this structure:

1. Define the problem
   Outline the pain points of your team, stakeholders, and wider organization caused by your current setup, whether that’s slow course development, high outsourcing costs, or compliance risks. Use real data or examples to bring the problem to life.
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2. Link to business goals
   ‍Show how a new authoring tool will support the wider business priorities, such as faster onboarding, reduced risk, or scaling training globally. This makes the proposal relevant beyond the L&D team, and shows stakeholders why they should care.
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3. Highlight the benefits
   Explain the business impact in plain terms, such as quicker course creation, cost savings, increased accessibility, or more engaging learner experiences.
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4. Show the ROI
   ‍Estimate the potential ROI by comparing current costs with projected savings, efficiency gains, and sales projections if relevant. Even conservative numbers can help build credibility, so give this section the attention it deserves.

5. Pre-empt objections
   ‍Address likely pushback, such as cost, adoption, or integration, by sharing vendor support options, compatibility, case studies from other customers, and phased rollout plans.

6. End with a clear next step
   ‍Suggesting a low-risk action such as an authoring tool demo or a pilot can make adopting a new tool feel more manageable to risk-averse stakeholders. For both action steps, make sure it is focused directly on your key benefits and their link to stated business goals. This will help maintain momentum, and can act as a useful stepping stone to win them over.

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Top tip: Frame the narrative in your stakeholders’ language. Talk about savings, risk reduction, and performance improvements rather than learning jargon – they don’t care about an increase in LMS logins, but they do care about a more compliant, efficient, and more productive workforce with reduced business risk!

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FAQs

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Key takeaways

• Building the business case is often harder than choosing the tool itself.
• Focus on real business problems with concrete examples.
• Highlight measurable benefits like time, cost, and scalability.
• Estimate ROI clearly – even rough numbers can be a great help.
• Anticipate objections and present a structured, step-by-step pitch.

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Get your tailored dominKnow | ONE walkthrough

Looking for an LCMS or eLearning authoring tool that offers real ROI? dominKnow | ONE is an LCMS with integrated authoring capabilities, allowing you to create, manage, and distribute learning content from an all-in-one platform.

Just some of the examples of ROI our customers have achieved with dominKnow | ONE include:

• Salience Learning reduced development time by 40%, with around 30-40% cost savings forecast per project
• A market-leading software security company reduced time spent maintaining and updating content by over 90%
• UL EHS Sustainability cut course translation costs by around 50% thanks to dominKnow | ONE’s centralized workflows
• CENGN improved its course NPS from 36 to 62

We’d love to show you why dominKnow | ONE gets such positive results for organizations in all industries (and we’ll even help out with that all-important business case!). Book your demo today for your personalized walkthrough and advice from a member of our experienced team.

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