1. The new technology integration is managed to support and fit the culture of the business.
2. Strong dedication is committed to the change management aspect of delivery and embedding of the technology. Well in advance of any transition!
3. The technology has a strong and stable platform (meaning the people platform) to embed the system into.
4. The technology is not being utilised as ‘the fix’ for the unknown problem/s they are currently experiencing.
Why are these aspects critical? Because they all involve the People Interaction! Technology at the end of the day is a ‘tool’ to assist people in their daily operation; people do not assist the technology! The People element is critical to the success of any form of technology solution! The best design and strategic fit, without management of the people element opens up any business to major problems!
1. The new technology integration is managed to support and fit the culture of the business.
Culture, just another ‘fluffy’ word!! If you believe this you are truly in trouble! The culture of your business is critical to create sustainable solutions. If you do not understand the environment that your solution is being integrated into and managing this environment throughout, you run the risk of spending millions of dollars with very little return. The best way to think of this is the old story of putting a square peg into a round hole. The peg being your technology and the hole being the culture. Are they going to fit nicely together?
2. Strong dedication is committed to the change management aspect of delivery and embedding of the technology. Well in advance of any transition.
How often does change management come up in respect of successful and unsuccessful delivery of programs? The statistics are there for all to see, pay little attention to this area and you will totally suffer the consequences! As with our article A quantum view of change management (http://gordianglobalsolutions.blogspot.com/2011/01/quantum-view-of-change-management.html) all aspects of the change need to be managed. Do not scope your responsibility so tight that you leave upstream and downstream impacts for others to manage. If you want the solution to work, then manage all dimensions!
3. The technology has a strong and stable platform (meaning the people platform) to embed the system into.
How strong is your people platform? Do you have a stable foundation to build off or are your people moving around like quick sand? Think of your people platform like the foundation of a house. It is critical before you build the house that you have a strong foundation; otherwise as you build you open the opportunity for your house to ‘crumble’ under the pressure at any time!
4. The technology is not being utilised as ‘the fix’ for the unknown problem/s they are currently experiencing.
Is technology being utilised as a strategic solution, or as the ‘fix-all’ for the unknown problems. If problems exist either known or unknown it is critical that they are addressed prior to the technology solution being integrated. Why, because to gain the maximum benefit from the technology solution it is critical that all other factors are operating as effectively as possible. To use technology as the ‘fix-all’ runs the risk of creating just another layer of complexity that will need to fixed in the short term also.
Technology solutions that are well designed, strategically fit, and integrated fully, offer business the opportunity to move to new dimensions.
How are your technology solutions being managed?
