Implementing new business technologies should yield positive outcomes and enhanced value, yet they often fail, incurring significant financial losses. According to McKinsey, business technology project failure rates stand at 69 percent, a figure echoed by the Boston Consulting Group at 70 percent, while the Global Mainframe Modernization Business Barometer Report escalates it to 75 percent.
Given these alarming statistics, businesses tend to opt for familiarity, foregoing the risks tied to costly failures. However, this cautious approach denies them the competitive advantages offered by novel technologies, like enriched data, swifter strategic insights, and elevated customer and employee services.
This dilemma between risk aversion and performance improvement is particularly pronounced in payroll. Ronél Swart, Heads up Professional Services at PaySpace—a payroll and HR platform, often encounters organizations grappling with this quandary:
“Digital modernization isn’t an endeavor companies embark on frequently. Thus, deciding when to embrace change can be a prolonged process due to business disruption and potential risks. This decision shouldn’t be taken lightly.”
These projects typically flounder due to common pitfalls: inadequate planning, misunderstanding requirements, inaccurate data, lack of stakeholder involvement, insufficient communication, and change management.
Navigating the Path to Project Success
To evade the pitfalls of expensive business technology project failures, Swart and her PaySpace team have overseen the deployment of modern payroll platforms across various entities, spanning small enterprises to multinational corporations. They all endorse a time-tested recipe for a successful deployment:
1. Planning: Commence with meticulous planning and a needs analysis to gather project requisites. While the extent of these steps may vary based on complexity and business size, they remain integral for every project. Failing to do so impedes recognizing milestones or working towards them.
2. Data Migration: Understand your data categories (employee data, financial data, historical records, etc.), their locations, and the data owners or dependents. Explore data migration options—often involving moving data from scattered storage to centralized cloud repositories or new on-premise storage systems, aligned with business needs and budgets.
3. Integration and Configuration: The efficacy of modern technologies hinges on seamless integration, even accommodating dependable legacy systems. System configurations are equally pivotal, in determining usability, governance, compliance, and process enhancements.
4. Training: Given that business technology projects can introduce substantial process alterations, proper training for new systems is imperative. This entails meticulous planning to foster buy-in and prevent staff disengagement.
5. Ongoing Support: Post-project delivery (cutover), the implementation partner should offer continual support to address any post-implementation issues that may arise.
Cloud Considerations
Cloud-based software, replacing antiquated licensing models, propels constant software refinement, motivating businesses to upgrade and reap the benefits. The cloud’s prominence surged during the pandemic, emphasizing its safety and convenience for remote work.
Cloud solutions bring fresh methodologies, accentuating the need for comprehensive planning, needs analysis, and change management. They also facilitate remote issue resolution, adding a crucial facet to a business technology deployment strategy.
Swart advises, “Engage a service provider with strong communication and a proven track record in project delivery. Can they creatively meet your requirements? Do they offer relevant solutions? Assess their experience through references and case studies. What’s their post-implementation support like?”
By adhering to meticulous planning, understanding requirements, managing data, involving stakeholders, navigating changes, integrating and configuring for the environment, training personnel, and collaborating with experienced providers in business technology projects, joining the 25 percent club of successful digital project implementations becomes attainable.
