The most common challenge to delivering successful projects that I have seen during my 20+ year career is expecting technology to fix business problems.  We have all been there. The business and technology leadership see a huge problem or inefficiency within an organization that is costing the company millions of dollars annually. Everyone wants to solve it. The technology team engaged on the project starts the project with supreme enthusiasm and sets out to solve the problem by building one of the most well thought out, elegant technology solutions imaginable. They may work for weeks, months or even years developing a solution with input from the business that can solve all of the problems the business identified. And then they try to implement it… And then the discouragement sets in as roadblock after roadblock enters their path as they try to rollout the solution.  Each team they try to onboard to this incredible solution has just a few reasons why it won’t work for them. Everyone agrees that it’s a great solution, but overcoming the obstacles to get people to actually use it becomes a daily grind.

The technology team is then left to wonder, “What went wrong”?  Unfortunately, I’ve seen this type of situation happen many times during my career. Everyone believes that technology can solve their business problem. It’s often too late in the process when they come to realize, Technology Alone Can Deliver No Value. If the underlying business process problems aren’t identified and addressed, technology cannot fix the problem.  What technology can do is underpin a really good business process and make it incredibly efficient.  Business process problems can be fixed by technology if the business is willing to change the process to fit the technology. But if the business process is fundamentally broken, or if the business processes are inconsistent between similar teams in the organization, and leadership is unwilling to address the underlying problems, technology cannot be leveraged to effectively solve the problem.

In contrast, I have been fortunate to deliver many projects where the engagement and partnership with the business was strong and there was a willingness to analyze and re-engineer the business processes to maximize efficiencies and leverage technology. I have seen wonderful successes where business resources were truly engaged in solving the problems and there was a measurable business outcome and impact when the technology solution was delivered.

So What does it take to add value with business and technology projects? It takes a good strategy, it takes a good process, it takes engaged resources, it takes good data.  Together, these can deliver substantial business value.  Leave some of the ingredients out and the outcome you are seeking has a very low probability of meeting your expectations.