Waiting on the other side of implementations is the commitment leaders must make to successfully execute the project. As the ink on the contract dries, both businesses are staking immense amounts of resources to carry out a successful implementation, often staking their career on these decisions. It’s not uncommon to hear about a Chief Information Officer (CIO) being let go because of a failed, multi-million-dollar implementation effort.
The principle of marginal costs settles in as core system implementations take shape. When you’ve invested significant amounts of capital and time into a project and challenges arise that can potentially impact the successful delivery of an implementation, it becomes difficult to do anything other than doubling down on your investment. Consequently, as software implementation timelines push, change orders roll in, and “new requirements” are uncovered, businesses find themselves held hostage – it’s either all or nothing.
This is why the savviest software buyers are weary of vendors that say “yes” to every requirement. Instead, they’re focused on a strict set of functionality requirements that will drive critical business process and welcome guidance from industry experts on how to connect the dots on the rest. This mindset enables leaders to remain agile in their approach to solving the challenges that drove them to implementing a new solution, without creating new ones along the way – like a broken budget and burnt-out employees.
As mentioned earlier, all it takes is a few customer references or a quick google search to find horror stories of projects that took twice as long and 10x the budget to complete. Projects like this can crush organizations and leave scars that stifle opportunities for future innovation. Experts have estimated that the true cost of implementations can exceed $100M for large insurers when you consider the additional costs beyond the price tag of a new solution. A startling figure, when you realize most of the cost hinges on a set of assumptions that are made prior to signatures.
