Author
Ricardo Diaz
Aside from being the French word for “king,” ROI is an acronym that stands for Return on Investment. For all of us, ROI equals net profit divided by investment.
Despite our understanding of the acronym, it is a concept we don’t commonly use outside of the business environment. We tend to think that companies “invest” while families just “spend.”
Well, that’s not entirely true. At some point in our lives, we all need to analyze if it makes sense to get a long-term mortgage rather than rent a house. We may not consider the money we give away as investment, but everyone is always looking for more while spending less. We call it “savings.” For considerable amounts, we all make some ROI analysis, even with the simplest purchasing decisions. Let me describe an example.
A few months ago, Elon Musk, CEO, Tesla Motors, announced his new PowerWall Energy Storage for the home. If it is just for the benefit of storing energy from the power grid, the expenditure ($3,000) is barely justifiable, unless you experience rolling blackouts. Now, if you can feed that battery with “free” energy from the most unlimited source of power, the sun, you could potentially disconnect your home from the grid. This could save you money on your monthly electric bill. Of course there is the added value of avoiding peak rates and increased energy security, not to mention environmental awareness.
Is it worth it? You have to do the math (battery plus inverter plus solar panels versus savings in power bills) and see how many years of savings it would take you to recover the investment – a couple of examples can be found here and here). If you don’t know how to do it properly, surely Tesla would do that for you.
All equipment vendors should be able to demonstrate the benefits of their solutions. We do so for our iTRACS data center infrastructure management (DCIM) solution. Our sales representatives have an ROI tool available, so potential customers can receive a personalized analysis.
The Andrew® SiteRise™ is the wireless business equivalent for the example above. For years, cell towers have been built on site, carefully connecting hundreds of components from multiple providers. SiteRise is almost a plug-and-play approach to get customized cell tower designs, with the factory-assembled guarantee.
Is it financially worth it? To figure it out, ask your CommScope representative. We have a helpful ROI calculator for the SiteRise solution.
If you have any questions about calculating the ROI for these and other CommScope solutions then leave a comment below and I will be sure to respond.
