The business benefits of rich Internet applications (RIAs) are clear and compelling. Yet many firms that could benefit greatly from RIAs talk themselves out of the investment because they believe the added complexity will be costly. But search optimization, accessibility, measurement, and globalization concerns aren't unique to RIAs. The only major difference between RIAs and HTML in these areas is that the risk of not adequately planning for an RIA build is greater than for HTML. Companies considering RIAs should consider all the costs and enlist help early in the planning process.