7 Steps to Prevent IT Project Failure

Synopsis:   Business Process and IT projects can raise productivity, quality, and yield significant business benefits, but are often complex, extremely expensive, and fraught with obstacles.  It is wise to approach these projects with a disciplined plan to avoid wasteful investments in technology.

1. Determine the Value Levers. Identify and confirm the drivers affecting business value across processes, contact centers, supply chains, operations, mobile and stationary workforces.
2. Don’t Rely on Interviews and Assumptions – Establish an empirical Baseline of Performance to augment verbal and observed information.  The only way to establish a solid ROI projection and prove any future benefits are attained is by articulating where you accurately are now.
3. Create Models to Predict Improvement Impact.  Engineers & architects build models to predict product performance to avoid costly mistakes.  Business leaders can do the same for their process and IT projects.   There are many factors affecting the impact of a proposed change or new solution.  Today there are many good choices for modeling processes, simulating outcomes, and effectively communicating a story line for your planned project.
4. Laser Focus on the Business Case.  Build a clear, time sequenced, financial case identifying where enhancements in productivity efficiency and effectiveness project bottom line benefits, and the necessary Cap/Op expense.  And, socialize the business case to build consensus and sponsorship.
5. Start Small – Pilot the Proposal. Select one to two sites with representative user profile of the larger rollout to test the proposed solution.
6. Measure and Refine the Solution…Forever. Ensure that automated measurements are in place to monitor with precision how workers and the entire solution eco-system are performing and responding to the change.  And, remember that business case used to justify the effort?  Make sure that you are tracking to the projected benefits and costs… and communicate it in every team meeting.
7. Don’t Skimp on Communication, Training, Encouragement, and Rewards. Inculcate the new processes and technology with training.  Reinforce to employees that the system is meant to optimize results across the entire organization.  Consider well thought through incentives to shape desired behaviors and performance goal attainment.  This is the moment of truth…. make sure everyone on the team is prepared and motivated for success.

The Setting:  Present Day at TypiCo…

The COO appears concerned as he assesses the firms operations.  His company has spent $100 million over four years on a new automated system and international rollout that promised to improve business process execution, customer satisfaction, and reduce cycle times producing a projected break-even in just 30 months.   His team had spent over a year in assessing the worthy solution, two years in customizing and integrating the solution with other existing systems, and another year in the implementation and rollout through the organization.

The results: disappointing.

While senior management were pleased with new mobile tablets issued and reported improved information access, the data they were reviewing wasn’t so rosy.  Feedback from the information workers indicated that it now actually took longer to complete transactions because the solutions hadn’t contemplated local compliance processes and unique process differences across customer segments.  Contact Centers found that customer service professionals were taking two minutes longer per call, and almost 70% of the agents were returning to old habits to meet their service level obligations.  And, the COO lamented there was really no way to know if their $100mm solution investment would ever actually meet their ROI analysis since no department could produce baseline performance metrics to begin with.

Have you heard this story before?  Of course you have.  It’s a common occurrence for business leaders of large service companies with remote and distributed employees.

To effect positive change, you must have a plan, and execute it with discipline.

Marshall the Team and Evaluate the Situation

TypiCo’s COO formed a Task Force to assess the following:

1. How is work processed and where are opportunities to improve?
2. What are the unique business value drivers and rules to address?
3. Where do workers spend their time, and where possible, understand why?
4. What is the workers level of understanding / proficiency with the new solution?
5. What are the levels and sources of mistrust or frustration with the solution?
6. Are we merely automating our old processes…. is there an opportunity to ask why and improve?

 

Don’t Rely on Interviews – Get Actual Baseline

Many research and consulting experts recommend interviewing your employees to get true information, and this is certainly a valuable source of information and revelation. However, many experts claim this is a ‘Fact-Based’ approach.  They are misguided.  When an information worker is interviewed with questions such as, ‘how long does it typically take you to do this function?’, the answer is clearly filtered with multiple biases.  Time Motion studies are valuable, but are only a single point in time view, and again, when information workers are aware they are being observed, results are often skewed positive; but performance is unsustainable once the observers are gone.  Our studies show a short 5% improvement of productivity is realized merely when a worker is simply aware they are being observed; but is unsustainable when the spotlight is off or measured over the long run.

The TypiCo COO chose to augment verbal questioning and visual observations by deploying Activity Monitoring tools to capture actual time usage, correlate the time with assigned costs (labor, infrastructure, materials…), and analyze activity patterns & aggregate costs by information worker class.  The aim of this exercise was to establish a BASELINE of current activity, process performance with associated costs.

 

Model the Impact of Change – Process Simulation and a Sharp Business Case Perspective

During the Task Force’s discovery sessions, they compiled a catalog of constraints and business drivers, and this information along with the empirical data from the activity monitoring was fed into a process modeler and simulation tool.  Process simulations help to identify the bottlenecks and impact of workforce and workflow conditions.  With this Baseline of operating data, the COO could now begin to analyze where and how to improve performance outcome.

With the baseline of operating data and modeled hypotheses of improved work processes and desired behaviors, the COO next constructed a Business Case to champion support for the effort.  The Case captured where automation and manual process improvements would enhance productivity, service levels, and forecast the top and bottom line benefits, as well as what changes in working processes would be needed to realize the yield.  With the Business Case in hand, the COO now could socialize the plan to build consensus and buy-in from his colleagues and stakeholders.

 

Start Small: Prove the Improvement Hypothesis with a Pilot

We often hear ‘Think Big-Bold Ideas’, and often are worthy exercises.  But, when it comes to $100mm projects, it is a good idea to test out the ideas in practice on a small pilot group before running full steam ahead.

The TypiCo COO chose two pilot sites with 30 information workers across six distinct persona roles in order to test the process and technology assumptions in actual work settings.  This representative sample universe provided a manageable environment with prompt feedback to make improvement adjustments where necessary, and a more confident outcome upon larger production rollout.

Measure and Refine the Solution…  Forever.

No one is perfect.  No plan is perfect; nor, company execution.

But, each can get better with appropriate and continuous feedback, acknowledgement, and action.

As a result of this approach, TypiCo was able to implement the process and system improvements in half the time as the prior failing implementation, productivity increased by 20%, customer service levels improved by 12%, and several million dollars of annual costs saving were recognized, and proven, through continuous, automated monitoring and tracking to the original business case.

It is only through a disciplined approach that success may be attained.  Before you consider your next significant technology investment, make sure there are clearly understood and aligned processes, rules, baseline performance metrics prior to the effort and continuous ROI metrics after the implementation, and the outcome has a much higher chance of success.

Advertisement