In the early 2000s, many major B2C groups were lured with the promise of CRM web based solution, which claimed to generate huge and quick profit. Many of them implemented these plug-and-play CRM solutions, but they got disappointing results. As per the statistics, the success rate was barely 30% for these projects. Upon analyzing the failures, various root causes were pointed out, and it was found that most of them were due to the ignorance or negotiation of some fundamental principles of IT Project Management. So, what are the principles that help a project succeed?

Based on our experience, we’d like to share with you some of the key success factors for the implementation of an IT solution.

Support of a committed sponsor

It is crucial to get the active support of a dedicated sponsor, a member of the board who has the clear vision of the project and his company. All too often, the deployment of a new IT solution is considered to be only a technical installation, which the IT department is in charge of. However, this implementation impacts all the operations and business processes of the company. The changes imply the need for arbitration and also resistance, which the tool can’t resolve by itself. The sponsor should address these issues internally, throughout the implementation process, to protect the project team from these hidden bombshells.

A well-defined initiation phase to ensure strong foundation

The final success or failure of a project is often cast in its conception phase when the first major strategic decision is made. Project Management best practices define and describe a specific time for this stage – the projection initiation, which is unfortunately skipped or neglected too often by the company. The result is that the project starts whereas the objectives, the Scope of Work (SoW) and milestones are still vague and not validated or shared by the company. So, the time spent on the project, in the beginning, is wasted.

Appointment of right resources to enable effective communication

Appointing a team and a manager-in-charge of the deployment project, for the new solution, is important.

This team will also rely on the integration project team, and respective roles & responsibilities, together with collaboration modes between the two teams, should be clearly established.

What is crucial is to assign at the interfaces of these two groups, the resources having the right technical and/or business skillsets to enable an efficient communication. The company can’t assume the integrator to be completely familiar with its business processes, and on another hand, the integrator can’t expect his customer to be fully proficient with his IT solutions. This is really the ability to enduringly and mutually understand & formalize the gaps to be filled between the business needs and the plug-and-play solution, which will make the project a success or failure.

Showcase Results from time to time – using Agile Methodology

Another way to ensure that the project is on the right track is to utilize Agile methodology. The advantage of this step-by-step approach is to make progress through intermediary deliveries, to show the results within a short timeframe, which helps in validating the directions.

A plug-and-play solution is an appropriate choice for this approach, as demos can be easily provided. It is far too risky to work blindly for weeks or months on a delivery and then realizing that the major features have been “forgotten” or misinterpreted by the project team, during the first user testing.

As a provider and integrator of the Wynsure solution, Mphasis-Wyde has a vital role to play in the success of the implementation. While some of these decisions can be taken only by the customers, we think it is our duty to advise and support them in implementing the key success factors of the Wynsure implementation.