Overcoming the Barriers to IM Success: Learn from the Past.

The total annual cost of worldwide IT failures is $6.2 trillion dollars- a staggering amount-  according to calculations performed by Roger Sessions, enterprise architect and CTO of ObjectWatch.  

How can organizations overcome these financially disastrous situations?

Firstly, it’s important to note that the term “failure” can have many implications, but for the sake of this post, let’s assume the general sense is that the solution in question fails to meet the needs of the organization.

 Having learned by experience, these are the main reasons I’ve seen IT implementations fail (and how to avoid them):

Unclear management expectations.  It is important to involve management in the decision making process, be realistic about what the system can do, and to clearly communicate the benefits/limitations of the solution you are choosing.

Scope creep.  In the implementation process, management may find that the features of the program are limited and may need additional services that were not previously budgeted.  This causes the project to drain resources more quickly and increases the …
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