How to Ensure Success in Your Software Project

Increase Your Odds of Project Success

True or False? In the U.S. alone, businesses spend $250B+ each year on technology projects, but almost a third of these projects will end in failure.

It's surprising, but true. Roughly 31% of IT projects fail. Each year, literally tens of thousands of scrapped projects cost companies giant sums of money. That's what a research group called the Standish Group famously reported back over a decade ago.

While the numbers have improved slightly since then, billions are still spent each year on IT projects that fail. Buying new accounting software is one of the most important projects an organization can undertake. How can you make sure that your company’s software purchase is successful?

In the course of their study, the Standish Group found a number of hallmarks of successful projects. They called these best practices "success factors." In this article, you’ll learn about the top 3 factors. More importantly, you'll find out about how to apply these success factors to your software project.

What's Not Needed?

A smooth software implementation does not require a bevy of on-staff tech gurus squirreled away in a temperature-controlled server room the size of a football field. Regardless of what Super Bowl half time commercials show us, it's just not a hard and fast requirement. In today’s market, skilled experts are easily available on a contract basis for companies of all sizes and across all industries.

Huge financial reserves aren’t needed either. Smaller organizations are often at an advantage when it comes to IT projects. They usually have fewer integration challenges and more flexibility in allocating resources. Tight budget constraints can actually help companies to focus in on the necessary return on investment for a financial win. Further, many sellers offer payment terms; leasing is a choice; and, hosted software is now widely available. Each of these options allows you to pay for software over time, while you are realizing the cost benefits of improved efficiency.

The Top 3 Success Factors for a Smooth Software Purchase

Purchasing and implementing software with success is really about the basics of solid project management. In the report we mentioned earlier, the Standish Group took a look at the companies who were getting it right. They studied their projects and found a number of common factors.

The top success factors include:

1. User involvement in the project
2. Executive support
3. Proper planning

The success factors are simple. They are common-sense. And, they are frequently overlooked. Avoid them at your own peril.

User Involvement

It would be hard to imagine remodeling a kitchen without asking the cook where they want the sink. But the recipes for software projects are often written without any input from the main users.

The core user group for most accounting systems will be internal staff. Having an internal user group provides a tremendous advantage in terms of getting their input. Of course, you also need to have project leaders who understand the larger corporate strategy and how the purchase fits into it. But it's just as critical to receive input from front-line users.

Decision makers are often unaware of just how complex or repetitive some business tasks can become, simply because they're often somewhat removed from more mundane processes. While you may have staff who also think it's a good idea to put a pool table in the break room, their input on taking steps to improve efficiency should be considerably more solid.

Executive Support

All businesses have the goal of financial success, but there are likely to be competing visions for realizing this success. Executive support is critical to ensuring the success of a software project.

Very few businesses can say that their key financial processes are as efficient as possible. For this reason, accounting software projects are often highly appealing to key decision makers. Or, at least they should be. Accounting software projects offer a big advantage: they are often relatively low risk and high reward. Many IT projects are highly speculative and serve as their own prototype. This is not-so with accounting software projects where technology that's new to you is likely to have been installed in dozens or hundreds of other businesses.

The increased predictability of the results of implementing new software is beneficial for determining the project's potential ROI. Identifying ROI numbers can be an intimidating prospect. But it's surprisingly straight-forward with accounting software purchases. All accounting software automates repeated processes. Determining ROI is often as easy as asking software providers to provide data on the amount of time that can be expected to be saved in each functional area. It's then a matter of applying your own knowledge of your labor costs to the time saved.

Solid ROI projections in the hands of the right decision makers. That's how projects get the green light, receive executive support, and avoid costly cancellations.

Proper Planning

A lot projects, including software purchases, start with the best intentions but end up running into issues that could've been resolved with formal project planning.

Participating in a proper needs analysis interview is a great way to either establish or reconfirm the key requirements for your software purchase. A good needs analysis interview allows you to clearly identify baselines for your software purchase project, including its scope, cost, and timeline. The needs analysis interview provided by FindAccountingSoftware.com offers the added benefit of actually matching you with options to meet your needs.

Another best practice for establishing your plan for your software purchase is to talk to experts early in the process. In order to accurately plan the scope, cost, and time expectations it’s good to talk to experts who can help you answer the following questions:

1. What functionalities are available to you and what’s the specific business benefit of adding these capabilities?
2. What is a purchase likely to cost to meet your goals? And,
3. How long does it take to implement software, configure it, and receive adequate training?

Many software providers even provide this type of invaluable consulting free of cost. Whatever your company’s size and industry, there are software providers who can speak to your specific needs, share ideas on what your competition is doing, and help you establish a plan for a successful software integration.