|
|
Key
Messages
People
make IT work
Ultimately,
no matter what software or hardware you've invested in, you depend on people to
make it work. - Consult
Early and Often
While business managers must show leadership, consultation
with everyone affected by an IT development or change in daily IT-related practices
e.g. security policies is vital. The sooner everyone is brought in on the loop
the better. Not only because those actually using the system should inform any
decisions made but because early consultation will help develop an acceptance
of the ultimate proposal. Establish a list of all those affected - this might
include staff, customers, trading partners, suppliers and contractors and make
sure each relevant group is consulted in an appropriate way.
- Set
Realistic Expectations
If you set expectations too high, even if you are
happy with the ultimate delivery, others will perceive the project/strategy/development
a failure. Be clear at the outset of what can be expected - it will make life
a lot easier in the long-term!
- Implement
a Structured Training Programme
Training can be hard to manage for a small
company focused on day-to-day issues and therefore careful planning of employee
training is necessary. Yet training is also essential because uninformed staff
working on new systems can easily destroy information or expose confidential data.
User training is not the only type of training you need to consider. Someone will
need training on at least basic systems administration and managers will need
to know how to access the business information they need to make decisions.
- Allocate
sufficient Resource
Even day-to-day IT-related tasks can take considerable
resource - in terms of people and budget. There's no point in trying to hide from
this reality; measure the resources needed; allocate them and budget for them,
including the cost of external resources if required Be transparent in doing so
- this is a real cost of doing business.
Check
out our How To Guide - Managing
an eBusiness Project
Click
here to return to
list of Key Messages |
|
