Embarking on a new transformation project? Technology itself is not the answer.

Unfortunately, we’ve all seen it before, unclear expectations, flawed assumptions and a lack of clear strategy leading to projects dragging on for years, delivering little and costing a lot. We want to help you avoid it.  We’ve provided you with our insights on how to deliver long term success on a new transformational project.

Below are practical ideas that you need to consider.

EVERYTHING IS A REPORTING PROBLEM

“Despite billions of dollars of investment, the gap between the information CEO’s need and what they get has not closed in the past 10 years” - Price Waterhouse Cooper 22nd Global CEO Survey 2018.

7 steps to follow in the initial stages of implementing a new project.
These steps ensure your information is clear, concise and adaptable to meet the changing needs of your business.

1.        Work backwards and get a clear understanding of what your stakeholders need first.

2.        Tie every piece of data you integrate, calculate and extrapolate back to a specific business purpose.

3.        Ask Why? - Don’t re-create legacy processes in your new system - software itself won’t create efficiencies.

4.        Use company consistent formats - easy to digest for your audience.

5.        Ensure automated scalability to reduce the number of reports created – hard coding is a dirty word!

6.        Don’t assume Excel will be eliminated – it still plays a valuable role.

7.       Don’t assume full automation - people are still a critical part of the process, their insights and analysis enrich the data.

TEAM ENGAGEMENT- PROTECT AT YOUR PERIL

Imagine this scenario, you have a small central project team working on the project whilst others carry on business as usual. When it comes time to transition the new tool to the wider business there is lack of traction and end user disengagement.

You need to consider how the wider business is engaged during the project to ensure acceptance and transition post go live – it is better to manage engagement early rather than deal with rejection at the end.

Some key risks of non-engagement include:

• Lack of engagement with end users in the initial stages often leads to additional requirements being found deep into the project - leading to time, money and scope extensions.

• When your central project team knowledge is not transferred to the business at project end it leads to your solution dying a slow death when these key employees leave the business.

• Duplication of processes continuing as end users still perform tasks the old way.

• Sheltering - The reality is people will be impacted, don’t sugar coat it, instead invest your time in getting true employee acceptance, and not relying on lip service in an email from the CEO.

• Accept the solution won’t be everything to everyone, have the courageous conversations early.

JOURNEY OF SOPHISTICATION – RECOGNISING WHEN FASTER ISN’T BETTER

Instead of rushing, focus on how to truly embed the solution in your business which may mean re-thinking your ASAP approach. Consider incremental solutions drops which allow time for a deep understanding of tool capabilities and your business.  You will have different perspectives as you evolve - start with the basics and build upon those – this approach will deliver better long-term solutions that fit your business.

FOCUS ON COMMITMENTS RATHER THAN REQUIREMENTS

How do you measure if your project has been implemented satisfactorily and ensure you have a common understanding of expected deliverables?

Assumptions are the termites of project success.

• Business requirements frame the “what”, use a Commitments Register to agree on “how” the “what” will be satisfied and how project success will be measured.

• Each commitment needs to clearly state acceptable standards and timeframes.

• Requires resource commitments from both sides, your team needs to be actively involved.

• Refrain from encyclopedia sized requirements, they are out of date before you begin and chew through the project budget before any build commences.

• Don’t be afraid to reverse engineer functionality of the product to fit your needs – cloud products are more advanced than older on-premise tools.

OUT OF THE BOX - GREAT EXPECTATIONS

OOB provides great benefits including provision of best practice functionality, but expectations that a tool can fit seamlessly into your current business process can lead to disappointment.

To manage your expectations, consider these points below;

• Ask yourself why are you looking for a new solution: is it to handle your current process more effectively or is it to completely change to a more simplistic generic methodology?

• Assess what stage your business is at, are you a startup willing to change your immature business processes to meet a generic standard or a mature organization that has deeply embedded processes that are significantly more difficult to change?

• A manufacturing business, a government agency and an education provider will all have different structures, processes, needs, and customers. The entire way they do business will be fundamentally different, which means a “one-size-fits-all” approach often simply doesn’t go all the way towards meeting all unique requirements.

Our advice would be to start with a Best Practice Module and then adapt to suit your business, it provides you with a good starting point that can then be customized to meet the specifics of your business.

Remember change is not easy. Strong leadership requires engagement, you need to play an integral part in the decision-making process and the project as a whole. Project success comes down to people, not technology!

If you would like to find out more about our project approach or have your own insight you would like to share with us, please get in touch at info@pivot2.com.au.