business
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TALKING
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Project success hinges on access to good
project management tools and yet despite
the recognition of this, half of respondents
lacked complete confidence in their
solutions – and 5% indicated they had no
confidence whatsoever.
Stakeholder support as a driver
for success
One of the key results of the survey was
the impact that stakeholder support had
on the success of projects. Although there
is a link between stakeholder support and
project success, it is difficult to say with
certainty whether support falls away in
response to difficulties with the project or
difficulties enter into the project workflow
as a consequence of waning support
from stakeholders. A closer look at project
implementation from start to finish may give
us some insights into this question.
As previously stated, optimism and
stakeholder support is generally high at the
beginning of projects, with 71% saying their
projects were running better than expected
at the development phase, but this rapidly
drops to 22% when it comes to sourcing
suppliers. At the same time, the number of
respondents that reported ‘issues’ with their
project jumped from 28% to 76%. Not
surprisingly, these delays have a knock-on
effect on the next phases of the project
– covering implementation, monitoring,
completion, trialling and evaluation – from
which few projects ever fully recover.
When projects get delayed, their business
impact is significantly reduced. The survey
found that 49% of projects had a significant
impact on the business and 35% had an
‘incremental’ impact, but projects that ran
without delay were more than twice as likely
to have the strongest impact than those that
suffered delays – 68% compared to 27%.
And this was closely linked to stakeholder
support over time. The figures revealed that
73% of respondents enjoyed full support for
their project at the beginning, but it fell rapidly
to 52% in the supplier sourcing phase and
by the time it reached the implementation
phase, had fallen to 48%.
Overall, 40% of respondents complained
that they lacked support, but splitting the
figures geographically revealed that the UK
40
INTELLIGENTCIO
“
RESPONDENTS WHO HAD
ENJOYED PROJECT SUCCESS SAID
THAT SHARED VISION, BUSINESS
BUY-IN AND COMMUNICATIONS WERE
THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTORS IN
ACHIEVING THEIR GOALS.
suffered more (51%) compared to Germany
(32%) and the US (37%). Interestingly, the
UK also suffered higher rates of project delay
(56%) than the average across the three
countries (52%) and significantly higher
than Germany (39%). Government and the healthcare sector
were generally least confident that they
had the best tools, at 35% and 43%
respectively against a high of 59% in the
telecoms and software sector and a score
for all sectors of 50%.
So why did stakeholder support decrease
over time? Respondents pointed to lack of
time (48%), other priorities (41%) and lack
of shared vision (26%) as the most common
reasons, suggesting the link between delays
and stakeholders is very much one of
stakeholders contributing to project delays. More than eight out of 10 businesses
(81%) undertaking Digital Transformation
projects have specialist software, with
63% using Microsoft Project and 24%
using Smartsheet. But the percentage
that used a single platform – recognised
as a key indicator of success in managing
complex projects and facilitating
effective communications across multiple
departments – was 39% compared to
35% that used a number of integrated
solutions and 7% who used a specialist,
standalone solution. The remaining 19%
reported they had no specialist software to
manage their project.
Project success
What made some projects more successful
than others? In a word, cooperation, as
respondents who had enjoyed project
success said that shared vision, business
buy-in and communications were the most
important factors in achieving their goals.
They enumerated five main barriers to
transformation in business that have to be
overcome to achieve success, with each
roughly equal to the others (ranging from
37% to 40%):
• Resources – Lack of investment in
transformation initiatives
• Talent – Lack of skills to do the job
• Culture – Difficulty getting everyone to
embrace change
• Communications – Silo mentality
blocking effective interaction
• Leadership – Lack of vision to guide
digital efforts
In all of this, the role of technology in
supporting communication and cooperation
was key. Half of respondents (50%)
were extremely confident that they had
the best tools for the job, but this varied
geographically, with Germany more confident
(55%) than the US (50%) and the UK (46%).
Those organisations that used a unified,
single platform solution reported higher
levels of success and satisfaction with their
project outcomes than those that integrated
a number of different software solutions
to achieve their aims. Of those who used
a single platform solution, 63% said their
project was running better than expected in
comparison to just 22% of those who were
using integrated solutions.
Overall, everyone agrees that collaboration
is important to achieving optimal outcomes,
but this survey has shown that this is often
more difficult than it looks. Success depends
on creating the right cultural conditions
within your organisation to ensure consistent
stakeholder support and cross-departmental
communications, aided by the adoption
of the right technology to facilitate joint
planning, resourcing, implementation,
completion and evaluation of critically
important Digital Transformation projects. n
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