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12
IT Best Practices For Improving ROI
By Dennis Sommer (www.dennissommer.com)
Companies continue throwing money at IT projects and accept
a pathetic 30% success rate. The IT field is filled with
complexity and the fast pace seems overwhelming at times,
yet we as professionals should adapt to the changing environment
and use available best practices to increase the success
rate of IT projects. IT professionals need to understand
best practice guidelines, processes, templates and how
to deploy them in different situations. Today we will
review a few best practice IT management techniques.
Align IT and Business
Align IT projects to specific business strategy goals
and objectives. Do not start or continue IT projects that
are not aligned with the business strategy.
Qualified
Leadership
Make sure that each project has a full time leader with
overall responsibility and authority for the project.
The project leader should be qualified to manage the project
size and complexity.
Be
Competitive
Use information technology to improve your business competitive
advantage.
Define
Metrics
Define and track measurable objectives that are necessary
for the success of the project. Review these metrics monthly
and adjust the project as needed.
Leverage
Current Technology
Leverage the investment of your current systems when developing
a new system.
Project
Organization
Project teams or sub-teams should contain 2 to 7 team
members with a mix of technical and business specialists.
Keep the project team organization small and agile.
Keep It Simple
Use the simplest possible combination of business processes
and technology to achieve your goals.
Work
In Small Units
Project work should be broken down into small units. A
task should not exceed 80 hours and should not be less
than 8 hours. The project should produce workable systems
every 30 to 90 days.
Keep
It Small
Break the development of big IT system projects into smaller
functional projects to reduce the complexity and lower
the overall risk of a big system project.
Project
Administration
Provide each project team with a coordinator or administrator
that help project managers and leads keep project plans
and budgets up to date and accurate.
Understand
Your Capabilities
Don't take on an IT project when the complexity exceeds
the companies capabilities.
Start
From Scratch
When restarting failed projects, start from scratch. Don't
use the original design and project organization that
failed the first time.
About The Author
- Dennis Sommer
Dennis Sommer
is the founder and CEO of Executive Business Advisers,
a management consulting firm specializing in business
growth, sales and profit improvement. www.executivebusinessadvisers.com
Dennis helps companies increase sales revenue, reduce
sales and marketing costs, improve marketing ROI, and
drive new business growth by improving and optimizing
their sales, marketing, company strategy and financial
health.
Dennis is a highly sought after business keynote and seminar
speaker www.dennissommer.com
and author of several highly popular sales, marketing,
leadership and professional development international
articles and books www.advisersecrets.com
.
Contact Dennis at 800-627-6512.
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