Circumventing project delays : Tips to restart stalled implementations

Over the past year, uncertainty has prevailed over corporate sales and profits. Most organizations did not invest in new projects. Some pulled the plug on ongoing projects, while a few companies which did not face a cash crunch embarked on new projects to gain on costs since discounts were available on IT products. Now, as new business opportunities are rising, many held-up projects are being reconsidered. Here are a few tips on how to restart after a project delay.

Restate the business benefits and challenges of the delayed project: The CIO has to ensure that the project's business need, as well as related factors, is sharply presented in terms of its direct impact on the company, employees, customer service and productivity. The goals need to be clearly defined, in order to avoid further project delays.

Select good partners for the project: Choosing the right partners ensures support, and

makes it easy to restart after a project delay. With them, the delayed project will gain the backing of a good knowledge and talent pool. At Adhunik Group, we are in the process of discussions with Tata, Tulip, Sify, Airtel and Reliance to get a complete managed solution for all our networking needs. When it comes to managed solutions, you need a partner who can provide for, and monitor all your requirements. We are trying to consolidate, and moving toward managed solutions—in terms of network as well as unified threat management, firewall and other security policies across the group.

Make effective use of business intelligence: Restart the delayed project slowly, do an analysis for the month, and bring in business intelligence (BI) to measure and aid productivity.

Recruit the right people: The biggest challenge is to recruit the right people to give the right momentum for a delayed project. We are recruiting CIOs and IT heads for our various companies, and are working on their assimilation before we dive deep into any of our delayed projects.

Think both long term and short term: It is essential to divide delayed projects into short-term goals that need to be achieved urgently, and long-term goals which bring perennial benefits to the company. Unless a project is divided into small pieces of work, it cannot be looked on favorably. For example, if you're delivering something in three months and investing X amount of money, this is more easily acceptable than something which will give returns after a year. Companies are now looking towards CIOs to work in a manner that gets the company quick ROI. Yet, it is vital not to neglect the long-term goals of a project; these have to run in the background.

It is essential to divide delayed projects into two: short-term goals that need to be achieved urgently, and long-term goals which bring perennial benefits to the company. ,

Choose quality over cost: When the question of quality versus cost comes up, especially in delayed projects, the evaluation criteria should always be quality-based. Costs cannot be a decision-driver, especially for IT projects. If you invest huge amounts initially and then cut back on the right resources, the benefits will be automatically depleted. A partner should not be chosen for the price he quotes, but for his expertise and domain knowledge. Quality should get 70% of the attention while project planning.

I firmly believe that a delayed project has to be stripped of its complexity, and that technical people have to keep in check their tendency to combine business strategies with the company's technical advancement. Keep it simple and sensible by focusing on the vital requirements of the organization.

About the author: Sanjeev Kumar is the executive vice president and group CIO of Adhunik Group of companies.

(As told to Sharon D'Souza)