How to plan for success

Written by Jerry Cardozo - Commercial and Alliances Director (3 mins)

You’ve made your case for change. You know which technology you’re going to implement to drive your digital transformation. Knowing that over a quarter of technology projects fail, how do you set yourself up for success? Consider and balance these three things: cost, expertise and innovation.

Cost

Budgets have never been more closely managed. You know the old saying ‘you get what you pay for’? This can be especially true with technology-enabled transformations. This doesn’t mean you need to increase your budget, but you do need experience. Hiring one source of accountability is critical for success. One source doesn’t necessarily = one person. Carefully choose your Programme Lead or Manager, and ensure they have the right level of experience along with a deep network of resources to join the team. They will also need to continuously brief and educate newcomers. Advisory firms or consultancies have expert resources readily available and a consistent onboarding experience.

Expertise

It’s critical you have people who know the system you’re going to implement, and are highly skilled (that means certified) in the technology. It’s equally important that experts brought into the team are able and allowed to partner with your people. System expertise + knowledge of the business = achieving your goals. When resourcing your team consider how your business case might change throughout the programme… Will you drop, delay or add certain areas of functionality? How does this impact the skillset and resources you need? Make sure your team is knowledgeable in more than one area. Your Programme Manager, Change Lead and Data Lead should know what’s happening across all areas of the programme. Try to keep those roles consistent throughout your programme delivery phase.

Innovation

You’ve thought about your budget, and you have a good idea about the resources you’ll need for a successful deployment. What happens after you go-live?

After your solution is live and you need to keep it going. Not just fed and watered, but healthy. Thriving. Make sure that you allow the technology and ways of working to reach their full potential (because your business won’t stop or stay static, will it?).

New changes and releases are available regularly. The world changes (as 2020 has proven!) and you’ll need to adapt and optimise the solution.

Does your team know how to innovate the solution? Which new features will you take on? Which will you delay or opt out of?

You need a team that can assess and analyse the change, and then plan, communicate and train for the change. And they need to do that while supporting other important areas of your business.

Plan for the long-term. Understand where your benefits will come from at go-live, 6 months on, 1 year on and 3 years on. Put together a plan that includes the right resources with proven experience and expertise.

You’re ready to begin Delivery now.