Worried about your system implementation – assure its success
Worried about your system implementation – assure its success
With digital tools meeting our every need, from food and finance to homes and holidays, it seems there is no problem technology cannot solve. Digitalisation is a process that promises to unlock new markets, networks and efficiencies, delivering increasing benefits to society and business.
Companies are all too aware of this—and are rushing to get on board. The research firm Fortune Business Insights predicts the digital transformation market will be worth almost $6.8 trillion by 2029, after seeing close to a 21% compound annual growth rate from 2022.
A common objective for digital transformation programmes is the finance function and the core processes it links to. Here, there is massive potential for cost savings and efficiency gains through automation, data analysis and other digital tools.
Most obviously, this can happen if a new technology does not deliver. Given the maturity of the IT sector, it is unlikely that a piece of enterprise software, for example, would fail to operate as advertised.
However, almost every piece of enterprise software and hardware today is linked to myriad other digital assets, and it is these integrations that can, and do fail in a systems implementation.
Another commonly cited problem with system implementations is that the technology changes but the people and business processes around it do not.
Take the example of a company replacing outdated legacy application with a centralised ERP solution such as SAP. SAP has its own change management tool, whereas many other systems rely on third-party ticketing systems, for example, Jira and Service Now.
Hence, a SAP migration will not only demand staff training on the new system but also a decision over whether to redesign the change management process and use vendor specific or agnostic tooling. A failure to appreciate technical details, such as tooling, can impair the efficiency of a transition and the magnitude of resulting benefits.
This means traditional programme assurance, with reviews and checks carried out at specified intervals may no longer catch emerging problems in a project. We have evolved our system assurance offering to focus on being value, rather than compliance, led with pragmatism at the heart of how we work.
Our continuous system assurance offering allows us to provide real-time ‘check and challenge’ within the existing governance construct of the Programme. Our objective is to drive your programme safely forwards, rather than providing stage gate assurance at points in time, which can often distract key project resources at critical times during delivery.
Since our team comprises IT subject matter experts, our clients benefit not only from guidance on governance but also technical insights that can help improve the quality of project delivery and increased probability of delivering business benefits and a ROI.
Our assurance provision includes areas such as integration and architecture, data migration and governance, testing, controls (including role design/build), detailed plan assessments, strategy assurance, go live readiness, cutover arrangements and target operating model.
We often work as part of your internal audit function to deliver assurance over your change programme, or directly within your Programme to act as an objective friend to ensure and assure that you are not exposing your organisation to additional risk.
With digital transformation, this means the outcome is not just demonstrating that a governance process has been followed, but one that has been designed with the highest levels of excellence in mind, enhancing the organisation’s functional capabilities and improving service delivery.
To find out more, get in touch now.
Companies are all too aware of this—and are rushing to get on board. The research firm Fortune Business Insights predicts the digital transformation market will be worth almost $6.8 trillion by 2029, after seeing close to a 21% compound annual growth rate from 2022.
A common objective for digital transformation programmes is the finance function and the core processes it links to. Here, there is massive potential for cost savings and efficiency gains through automation, data analysis and other digital tools.
An uncomfortable truth about system implementations
Yet the alleged value of digital transformation—and the frequency with which it is advocated by IT providers—obscures an uncomfortable truth. According to McKinsey & Company, 70% of digital transformation projects fail.Most obviously, this can happen if a new technology does not deliver. Given the maturity of the IT sector, it is unlikely that a piece of enterprise software, for example, would fail to operate as advertised.
However, almost every piece of enterprise software and hardware today is linked to myriad other digital assets, and it is these integrations that can, and do fail in a systems implementation.
Another commonly cited problem with system implementations is that the technology changes but the people and business processes around it do not.
When technology and process do not align
This can at best lead to underutilisation of the new technology and at worst to a complete breakdown in processes when an underlying platform no longer supports an accepted way of working. These two areas can sometimes overlap.Take the example of a company replacing outdated legacy application with a centralised ERP solution such as SAP. SAP has its own change management tool, whereas many other systems rely on third-party ticketing systems, for example, Jira and Service Now.
Hence, a SAP migration will not only demand staff training on the new system but also a decision over whether to redesign the change management process and use vendor specific or agnostic tooling. A failure to appreciate technical details, such as tooling, can impair the efficiency of a transition and the magnitude of resulting benefits.
Is system assurance agile enough?
One further consideration in system implementations is that the traditional delivery approach follows a staged or waterfall approach, whereas IT teams are increasingly moving to agile development models where multiple project phases run in parallel.This means traditional programme assurance, with reviews and checks carried out at specified intervals may no longer catch emerging problems in a project. We have evolved our system assurance offering to focus on being value, rather than compliance, led with pragmatism at the heart of how we work.
Our continuous system assurance offering allows us to provide real-time ‘check and challenge’ within the existing governance construct of the Programme. Our objective is to drive your programme safely forwards, rather than providing stage gate assurance at points in time, which can often distract key project resources at critical times during delivery.
Integrated and independent technical assurance
Although this may sound intrusive, in practice it allows for smoother development processes than with a traditional stage-gate review process, where project teams must pause the work that they are doing so the assurance team can check and provide clearance to move to the next milestone.Since our team comprises IT subject matter experts, our clients benefit not only from guidance on governance but also technical insights that can help improve the quality of project delivery and increased probability of delivering business benefits and a ROI.
Our assurance provision includes areas such as integration and architecture, data migration and governance, testing, controls (including role design/build), detailed plan assessments, strategy assurance, go live readiness, cutover arrangements and target operating model.
We often work as part of your internal audit function to deliver assurance over your change programme, or directly within your Programme to act as an objective friend to ensure and assure that you are not exposing your organisation to additional risk.
Improving our clients’ operations
Underpinning this approach is a basic principle behind all our IT assurance services: while our role is to improve risk assessment and mitigation, our ambition is to use System Implementation Assurance as a mechanism to improve your competitive edge through the effective use of technology.With digital transformation, this means the outcome is not just demonstrating that a governance process has been followed, but one that has been designed with the highest levels of excellence in mind, enhancing the organisation’s functional capabilities and improving service delivery.
To find out more, get in touch now.