Creating business value through IT projects

Survival is essential; growth is expected, planned and achieved. Organisations can’t sleep over the strategies that worked for them in the past assuming that the same strategies will drive them to success in the future. The world is changing. Business is changing. Competitors grab your very own strategies and even the resources within second your product goes out to the market.

With the absence of continuous and radical innovations, even the majority of the ‘Built to Last’ companies have failed within the first 10 years. It’s not only Jim Collins who saw it, we have also experienced in our economy how new entrants have captured the market in recent years. Only the companies that kept walking in search for excellence, moving from ‘good to great,’ have survived and thrived in the today’s vibrant market.

IT as a growth enabler

Many organisations achieve their successes with very limited access to Information Technology (IT). They are the masters of their businesses; they know exactly where their organisations will be in the next five years. Even when technology is not seen as a necessity, the value it can add to an organisation is limitless. However, just like any other enabler for business growth, IT has to be carefully invented and managed to achieve the business objectives. IT projects that are aligned with organisation’s vision and objectives will foster the organisational growth and deliver greater business value for their investment.

Aligning IT projects with business strategy

It is not only the Chief Information Officer’s role to ensure that the proposed IT solution will create business value. It’s the responsibility of all key stakeholders to sit together and plan their organisational strategies and see what the enablers helping them to achieve their objectives are.

In this attempt the executives will have a clear idea why they need IT and how it can add value to their organisation, rather than implementing IT projects on ad-hoc basis as and when the need arises or markets change. Instead of adding value, IT adds cost, if this process is not carefully managed. Choose the IT project portfolio wisely and make sure it will continue to align with the changes in organisational strategy, objectives and the direction.

IBM recommends that in choosing IT projects, organisations should also ask themselves whether IT can boost revenue while minimising investments, whether it will help build and strengthen customer relationships, will it help to quickly move in to new capabilities that the customer demands, and then think about how to leverage technologies quickly and claim the benefits it has to offer.

How to ensure IT projects create business value

Large numbers of failing IT projects discourage organisations which are keen on implementing IT projects. Unfortunately, failure starts right from the project initiation where project requirements are defined and scope is planned. IT projects are not like projects in the building and construction industry, or aviation or some other industries where tangible products are being produced. Especially when it comes to the software development, users will not be able to use all the functionalities of the product until the project is delivered. So what happens if the end products do not meet the requirements of the user? The project will be declared as a failure and the resources spent on the project will be a cost to the organisation.

With the recent development of the project management profession, new standards have been introduced to minimise the rate of the project failure. Instead of plan-oriented, predictive lifecycle models, more action-oriented, agile methodologies have been introduced to the market. In predictive project lifecycles the complete project plan is developed at the beginning of the project. Action-oriented approach develops plans in iterations to allow more flexibility. Some projects focus too much on one of these approaches and neglect the need for the other. It is highly recommended that project managers use a balanced mix of both approaches to make their IT projects successful.

Organisational responsibility

Every single unit in the organisation has a say in an IT project and all are affected by the implementation of IT, at least to some extent. Role of the stakeholders of an IT project is not where they discuss the failure at the end, ‘forgetting’ that they gave no input and had no involvement during the project selection and implementation. Every one’s commitment to the project and their attempt to collaborate and work together is the key ingredient to the success.

Projects create business value, only if we build our projects to create the value. When guided with the proper governance, aligned with the organisational vision and objectives, and carefully planned and managed with a risk based approach, IT projects will continue to transform organisations as a key enable for business growth and success.



(The writer is a Project Management Consultant and Trainer. She is the Director/CEO of Innova Strategies, PMI USA Global Education Provider. She holds a Doctor of Business Administration degree from Swinburne University, Australia and a Master of Engineering degree from RMIT University Australia, and is also a PMI USA certified Project Management Professional.)