technology solutions perspective


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Technology - Reasons to succeed
Terry Dann

I am often asked "What is the biggest single reason for failure in IT projects?" Well, you only have to look at some of the spectacular public sector IT white elephants to understand (and the private sector has its own share of failures). It all boils down to a lack of alignment between IT strategy and the business strategy. Simple as that. IT strategy and business strategy so often seem to inhabit parallel, but different, universes.

"A major factor is poor communication"

Terry W J Dann

What is less apparent is the underlying reason. A major factor is poor communication between IT and all the other functions it supports. There is often a great disparity in both culture and even the language used by IT and by other functions in the organisation.

The situation is made worse when strategy is set at different levels within an organisation -a particular challenge within large organisations - where corporate HQ has its own strategies and the operational units have their personal practical interpretation. At least small companies do not suffer this level of complexity.

IT people are frequently to blame because they are pursuing technical strategies above business needs. Business functions also share the blame, often being unwilling to change their role as quickly as technology delivers new ways of doing things. How many organisations, from retailers to publishers to business service organisations, missed the boat with the exponential growth of the web? Inertia plays a part too. I once called on a group of business heads of a multinational company to ask what they would ideally want from a new Management Information System. They could all think only from within the bounds of the existing system. It took an incredible amount of cajoling to get them to think outside the box.

Then again, there is often confusion of where responsibility lies. Once the marketing function has launched a wizzo website, beautifully designed with clear marketing copy that portrays exactly what the company is all about, who should be thinking about optimising the site to appear high up on Google and Yahoo's searches?

"The concept is just as relevant to a smaller organisation. In fact, smaller organisations benefit from not having a complicated management structure."

The answer to all these challenges is to set up a single multi-disciplinary body - in large organisations it might be known as a Governance Board, but the concept is just as relevant to a smaller organisation - with the authority to make binding decisions on behalf of all functions and departments regarding priorities for future projects. A group that has common business goals and commands the full support from the top.

So much talk of failures and underperformance may sound negative, but I have learned that knowing the potential pitfalls in advance makes for a much easier and more direct journey to success. Avoid the pitfalls and it becomes eminently possible to achieve tight alignment of company strategy with IT delivery.

Terry W. J. Dann

Terry has over 35 years experience of providing IT services and change management in the UK, Europe, Latin America and the USA.

In his previous position as Information Technology Director, Ford Financial Europe, Mr Dann was responsible for creating the IT strategy and governance process for Ford Financial Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Europe in addition to being a key architect of Ford Financial’s global process and systems harmonisation program.