First, the size of an efficiency realized to a smaller business is inherently less valuable than the same efficiency of a bigger business. To explain this statement, I will use an illustration. The decision to proceed with the investment is obvious since a return will be realized in the first year even with unanticipated associated costs. On paper this would be a bad investment unless the life of the improvement would run three years or more. The second aspect of this difference is whose money the investment used.
Smaller businesses tend to be closer-held.
Said another way, it is coming directly out of the decision-maker's pocket. The sales pitch. When buying technology, it is your responsibility to review the ROI or cost justification of a new system. As difficult as it is for you to quantify an improvement, it is even more difficult for a vendor who cannot know you as well as yourself. That's why vendors sometimes look to confuse the issue.