Project Management

As IT projects get bigger and contracts grow longer, the risks of something going wrong, with the resultant consequences, also increase. While the underlying causes of project failure are many and varied, the IT contract itself often gets the blame. This is because the contract represents tangible evidence of the parties’ agreement and, in the end, all arguments somehow point at the contract.

Projects within an IT department have to be prioritised. Management should aim to maintain an appropriate mix of projects, balancing complexity and technical resources alongside the value to be gained by the business. The projects, the benefits they deliver and the associated risks to essential services are key elements for consideration.

Our experience has shown that many projects fail simply because management’s expectations of technological change were never subjected to a reality check – no one ever asked whether the promised results could actually be achieved. It may often be the obvious issues that are ignored

A project team should have a measured implementation plan with responsibilities, formal milestones, a risk register, identified deliverables and specific review periods to assess the success of a project in stages. Our project management specialists can ease the pressure off the business by undertaking this complex and responsible task.

Some of the guiding principles we adopt to help increase the success rate of IT projects include:

• We keep in mind the fact that businesses need business decisions, not technological ones.
• We strive to bridge the growing technology decision gap and make sure that business owners stop viewing technology as separate from their business.
• We emphasis the necessity of establishing business metrics to measure the impact of IT projects on the overall business objectives.
• We impress on business owners the need that investment in IT must be well planned and provided for in their business plans.