11 Apr The New Value Case: How Global Mobility Transforms Technology ROI Measurement
In the rapidly evolving landscape of work and workforce technology, global mobility has emerged as a critical factor in how organizations measure the return on their technology investments. Deloitte’s 2025 Global Human Capital Trends survey reveals a significant shift in how companies evaluate technology ROI, with traditional metrics giving way to more holistic approaches that recognize the importance of human outcomes alongside business performance.
The changing equation for technology value
The traditional approach to technology investment was relatively straightforward: spend $X to increase efficiency by Y%. Today, however, organizations must consider a much broader range of factors, particularly when it comes to technologies that support global talent mobility.
As Deloitte notes, “Companies need a global workforce and global mobility, now more than ever,” sending increasing numbers of employees abroad for various strategic reasons. This expanded mobility requires new ways of evaluating technology investments.
According to the Deloitte survey, the top business case drivers for technology investments have evolved from enabling workers to do more faster and decrease costs to more complex objectives: enabling workers and machines to create value together, enabling the workforce to create new types of value, and improving worker well-being.
Global mobility brings complexity to ROI measurement
The complexity of global mobility programs makes traditional ROI calculations insufficient. Centuro Global reports that despite clear benefits, most companies still aren’t measuring their global mobility effectiveness effectively, with only 10% of global mobility professionals leveraging data to aid business decisions.
This gap represents a significant opportunity. Organizations with advanced global mobility technologies can gain competitive advantages through better talent acquisition, retention, and deployment. However, realizing this potential requires new approaches to measuring technology value.
New metrics for evaluating mobility technology
Organizations need to move beyond traditional efficiency metrics when evaluating mobility technology investments. KPMG’s 2024 Global Mobility Benchmarking Survey found that 72% of respondents highlighted alignment of mobility strategies with broader business objectives as their top priority, emphasizing the strategic role mobility now plays.
Effective metrics for evaluating mobility technology include:
- Talent metrics: Measuring impacts on employee retention, development, engagement, and satisfaction
- Business alignment metrics: Evaluating how technology supports strategic business objectives
- Human performance metrics: Assessing improvements in collaboration, innovation, and worker well-being
- Strategic value metrics: Quantifying contributions to market expansion and competitive positioning
The converging roles of talent acquisition and global mobility
Talent acquisition specialists and global mobility professionals increasingly find their roles overlapping. In April 2025, Deloitte and Equus Software announced a strategic alliance aimed at transforming global mobility management, recognizing that “as businesses adapt to an increasingly complex global landscape, seamless, technology-driven mobility solutions have become essential for organizations with large, international workforces.”
This convergence requires talent acquisition specialists to develop expertise in global mobility principles and technologies, while mobility professionals must understand talent acquisition strategies. Both functions must collaborate to develop comprehensive approaches to measuring the value of technology investments.
Portfolio approach to technology investment
Rather than evaluating individual technology investments in isolation, Deloitte recommends organizations take a portfolio approach similar to research and development. This means assembling a collection of related investments that collectively advance strategic goals, with the understanding that successful initiatives will more than compensate for those that don’t pan out.
For global mobility and talent acquisition technologies, this might include investments in:
- AI-powered candidate matching and assessment tools
- Digital mobility management platforms
- Virtual reality tools for candidate interviews and relocation previews
- Data analytics for workforce planning and mobility ROI measurement
PwC’s Smart Mobility Hub emphasizes that “real ‘smartness’ means purposefully combining data and technology to create affordable, inclusive, safe, and sustainable mobility solutions,” requiring cross-sector collaboration and public-private partnerships.
A new governance approach
Deloitte recommends organizations cocreate value cases for new technologies with a broad set of stakeholders, including workers and leaders across functions. This collaborative approach ensures that technology investments address the needs of all stakeholders and that the value case encompasses not just direct technology costs but also organizational changes needed to achieve desired outcomes.
For global mobility technologies, this governance should include talent acquisition, HR, finance, tax, legal, and operations stakeholders, as well as mobile employees themselves. Regular assessment of how technology impacts the employee experience is crucial, as is the willingness to adjust or even abandon technologies that fail to deliver value.
Organizations must develop new approaches to measuring the ROI of technology investments in the global mobility space. By adopting more comprehensive metrics, embracing portfolio management, and implementing collaborative governance, they can ensure that their investments deliver value for both the business and its people in an increasingly borderless world of work.