$3 trillion, that is what research is telling us that we are wasting on failed Technology Transformations around the Globe!
Can you even begin to imagine what you could do with $3 trillion…
Technology i
s not hard and it is not rocket science, well some projects are rocket science and some are scraped because they are just not working or the idea is outdated.
One major reason for failing Business Transformation is improper Due Diligence before embarking on the Transformation journey. Of those who do prober Due Diligence 50% is terminated at the design phase. Of the remaining 50%, 23% will never get to completion and of the remaining 77%, 65% of all issues found later in the transformation lifecycle can be related back to this point of the journey!
That is a lot of numbers to crack so let me try to make some sense out of it and provide recommendations on how to potentially stop wasting money.
So, what is going wrong?
Some identified key reasons for the waste is that the Business strategy is superseded. The organization is heading in different direction hence there isn’t any need for the end product delivered by the transformation. Business benefits not communicated clearly to the organization or even overstated.
Top of the list also shows Poor Transformation board composition; in 80% of all completed transformations neither budget nor timeline is meet. On average all completed transformations have overrun by 46 weeks!
The difference between Client and supplier agenda, quality vs. prize is a big issue. The isolated focus on prize is affecting quality on many different levels in a negative direction; one particular reason is related to outsourcing where the prize pushing is resulting in sub-standard resources without adequate skills being deployed onto the transformation causing major delays. Insufficient ownership from the Business relying too much on IT or Supplier can result in a blame game; a marriage that on the outset looked like a match in heaven is heading for a nasty divorce.
3 things that can be done today
Act today; while the price of quality is difficult to quantify the effects of poor quality more obvious, inducing quality from the outset of a Business transformation will aid success.
Make quality a hot topic on the agenda, and let it filter down through the organization like water seeps though sand, water will get through no matter what the density is it and will improve the conditions of the soil. The same goes for Quality.
Invite a pragmatic quality savvy individual to sit at the high table when the transformation is being discussed at business level (Board, Executive or steering group). Ensure that she/he understand the overall Business landscape not just internally but also the surrounding business environment. She/he should understand risk assessment from an operations point of view. Have a very high and well-trained level of abstraction.
Run an assessment to establish the Quality maturity of the Transformation, ensure to involve the supplier into this assessment as well. The assessment will provide you with insight into where there are potential gaps need attention to ensure the success of the transformation.
I am sure that you know the proverb Jack-of-all-trades and master of none, not having the right people involved is most certainly going to have a devastating impact on the transformation. On the other side calling on the expertsbrigade is also not always a good thing, as they walk out of the organization with crucial knowledge once the transformation is complete – it is not easy, it is about striking a balance.
Heidi Kristoffersen 