The Missing Link in Software Implementation

We've all been there. Stars in your eyes as you imagine the amazing things you could accomplish if you just had this new technology, this new system that will boost your sales, reduce your cycle times and ensure your department heads celebrity-status in year one. Then the implementation project begins...

Requirements? Doesn't the product come with its own requirements? You just log-in and BOOM, awesome city...right? Surprise folks, just like weight control, there is no magic pill. There is no short cut that allows you to conveniently side step deeply understanding your current business and data processes. I don't just mean a general understanding, I mean DEEP knowledge of every hand-off, every signature required, every paper or electronic document.

What I've seen "discovered" time and again (very painfully, I might add), is that deep knowledge and examination of your current players, process and data is the key to the kingdom. It will unlock EVERYTHING. It is the starting point to any sustainable strategy and roadmap; is it the key to innovating within your space, to the transformation you are so hungry for.

Software vendors: If you aren't asking for this well in advance of achieveing a signed contract, you're also putting yourself at risk. Lack of clear understanding of the business and data processes from both the business and vendor perspectives can be devastating to those success KPIs and metrics you were both so keen to claim at Innovation World 2020. In fact, I'd encourage software vendors to offer to help the business map this out for free. Yes, free. As a vendor, you need to know where the landmines are just as much as you need to know where the low hanging fruit is. If the client is powerful and important enough to your portfolio, not having this could introduce critical risks to a successful implementation. What if your data structures are inherently misaligned? What if your product is automating a process where the manual steps aren't actually the issue?

The missing link is proper planning and preparation. Its a detailed current-state process that includes the players, the data, the reporting, the hand-offs, the approvals, the tools, the gaps. The challenge with doing this as part of a software implementation is that you're already biased. You're focused on a specific outcome or segment of the process that you've already committed to. In mapping your process, you may discover that you missed steps A, B and C and skipped straight to D. Perhaps you discover you were spot on, great job! But you'll still need this process in-hand to ensure the implementation and long-term roadmap are in the right hands.

Whether you're on the vendor or business side, I strongly recommend examining your processes at a detailed level. You need to know not only your department-specific processes, but how they tie to enterprise process, as well as the ultimate value proposition they bring the organization and the industry as a whole.

Quinn Steele: Seasoned consultant, business analyst, project manager and innovator. Deeply passionate about building successful business strategies that bring people, ideas, process, data and technology together in meaningful ways.