Why projects fail and how CBI can help
The Royal Academy of Engineering and The British Computer Society found that 84% of public sector projects result in failure of some sort. Why is this happening and how can companies avoid it? Let's look into the main reasons projects don’t succeed and the unique approaches CBI has to prevent this.
1. Organisation culture
A primary reason for project failure is company and project culture. There needs to be a balance between control, collaboration, cultivation and competence within a team to overcome possible challenges and hurdles. At CBI we focus on change management, training and communications strategy to increase adoption and acceptance. We pride ourselves on creating multidisciplinary teams with matter experts in a collaborative environment. Having the right mindset and communication within the team is crucial to increasing productivity, quality of work and talent attraction.
2. Skillset
Another factor affecting project success is the team itself. Some organisations do not have the required skillset to allow a successful deployment. It is important to note that it's not always about professional ability. A successful team needs to have members that ask the right questions, understand a range of problems and think about the bigger picture. Our consultants have a broad range of experience across multiple industries s including Legal, Financial, Military and Aerospace This allows us to ensure consultants are placed according to the exposure, area and expertise.
3. Technological advancements
Technology is moving fast especially with covid there is a new norm and we are all expected to work differently. Research completed by Forbes shows that 90% of IT professionals plan to up their spending on business intelligence tools to improve big data analysis. This shows that it is vital consultants are able to adapt to changes in technology and organisations are aligning with surrounding trends and technology to succeed. What may seem like a transformation to some organisations is actually events and activities that should’ve been implemented a while ago. Advancements in technology can make digital capability visions obsolete and providing a platform for APIs and interconnectivity increases success. CBI is always progressing alongside technology and adopting new or emerging concepts while incorporating reliable and trusted techniques at the same time. Our consultants are equipped to adapt to your technological environment and work with a range of platforms and softwares.
4. Vision
Research conducted by The University of Harvard shows that those who have goals are 10 times more successful than those without. A well-known issue in transformation programmes is the lack of vision. Although we understand starting a transformation process is overwhelming there is still a need to have a clear vision and set of requirements. By avoiding setting goals the team will quickly head in different directions causing a lack of conciseness and clarity evident in the final product. It is imperative Organisations capture the requirements and validations to understand the business and its needs- this is vital. On top of this is the need for benefits management which requires clear linkage to the planned system functionality down to the requirements level, and this needs to be revisited throughout the project to ensure the goal is still on track and to prevent scope creep.
These are only 4 examples of common hurdles faced within transformation and technology projects. The first step to success is admitting that difficulties will definitely occur. However, difficulties do not need to equate to failure and with the involvement of CBI, they never will.