How to maximize the adoption of new IT projects
The area of technology of the organizations has had a significant increase in visibility in recent years. IT has an impact on all areas of business, as it gives support to all systems.
While the importance of IT is undeniable, in most scenarios there is a great difficulty for approval of projects that require new investments. The biggest problem is that IT staff can not convey the real value of their projects and the result is problems caused by lack of investment. To solve this problem, we created a list os important tips to maximize the adoption of new IT projects:
1. Align the language
To start a new project it is essential to know all the metrics used to evaluate new investments. Each organization has its own metrics and a conversation with decision makers, especially the CFO or financial manager, is crucial to align the metrics of the new project with the company’s evaluation system.
2. Alignment of the new project with existing KPIs
All companies have different performance indicators (key performance indicators) used to measure the performance of key processes. Projects that contribute to the improvement of these key processes have a considerably higher rate of approval.
3. Setting clear goals
A major problem in approving new investments is the lack of clarity in the objectives. Projects without a clear goal are hardly carried forward. One of the strategies is to use some kind of framework for projects.
4. Finding internal allies
The presentation of ideas is a very complicated process for professionals who do not have good skills of persuasion and communication. A very useful tip for professionals with this profile is to submit project ideas beforehand and individually to the organization’s internal opinion makers. These allies will be crucial as they will assist in approval processes. Moreover, these small individual presentations will be reviewed and can improve the projects before they are definitively evaluated.
5. Identifying the risks involved
All projects have risks such as failures of execution, non-execution of agreements by suppliers, abrupt changes in priorities of organizations, immobilization of resources resulting from failures, etc. Identifying all such risks and possible adverse scenarios is essential to give credibility to your project.
6. Creating and managing a road map
Creating a Road Map with goals and objectives by steps is key to success. In addition to providing a vision of the future of every step, it ensures lower deliveries that reduce the frustration of expectations and defines a clear path to follow.
7. Showing benchmarks
After overcoming the main obstacles to ensure the adoption of a new IT project, it is time to take hold of the final card: to show where projects with similar scope have succeeded. Success stories are great to ensure the tranquility of the decision makers.
