In 2016, a survey conducted by Innotas1 revealed that 55% of IT professionals had seen at least one project they were involved in throughout the previous 12 months abandoned prior to completion. These ventures – undertaken in order to develop, improve and enhance – therefore yielded little more than wasted time, effort and, of course, capital with alarming frequency. A well-executed and correctly implemented project typically delivers advancement but why, when the likelihood of failure is greater than the prospect of success, would organisations undertake such schemes?
The answer, of course, is because the lure of success – of unrelenting growth – is irresistible and, as we all know, technology is more than capable of delivering this. So, perhaps a more pertinent question would be: why do IT projects fail and how can these common pitfalls be avoided?
Here, I’ll consider the reasons why IT projects typically fail, as well as discuss the steps organisations can take in order to avoid them.
Resource management, misalignment and delivering value
In the same study, 71% of respondents reported that they possessed neither the resources nor the staff they needed to successfully implement IT projects. Additionally, 54% stated that they had failed to ensure their projects married with their overall objectives and only 31% reported that delivering value has been their main priority when developing and implementing plans.
The inference is clear: the majority of IT projects fail because, firstly, the skillsets needed to implement them successfully are regularly not available and, secondly, because of a lack of planning; of failing to determine whether the change that will come about following a project’s successful completion will yield truly tangible, transformative and quantifiable benefit to the organisation.
Resolving the former issues is, you could conclude, as simple as undertaking more research and ensuring that the goal of any project is closely aligned to an organisation’s objectives. This, though, is dependent upon technical expertise and experience which, as we know from problems reported concerning a lack of resources, is hard to come by. ROCK, though, can help.
Working collaboratively with clients
One of the UK’s leading technology consulting firms, ROCK help clients successfully determine both the scope of their IT projects and ensure any resultant installation strategies are practicable.
Our technology consultants work closely with our clients – gleaning an in-depth understanding of their organisations, practices, models and goals – in order to refine and perfect IT projects, ensuring that outcomes align with objectives.
Honed strategies are followed by implementation plans that clearly define the criteria that will be used to assess a project’s success. ROCK also utilise an agile approach that enables strategic change to be enacted quickly and with minimal disruption to ensure that projects are able to remain on track at all times.
ROCK possesses both the resources and expertise needed to ensure projects are implemented successfully. Vitally, however, our unique HUDDLE project implementation service also sees us co-operate and partner with clients to ensure that a project’s likely outcomes align with their aims.
To find out more about how ROCK’s HUDDLE project implementation development service can help your organisation successfully harness the power of the latest tech, get in touch with our consultancy team today.
