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Project Management Software Articles
E-Business Solutions - Project Management Software
Smooth Projects Article Comments:
The problems discussed in the artile below relate perfectly to the implementaion of a project management software
system and have historically been the primary reasons for failure when
not addressed. Successful implementaion of Project Management Software
or any other E-Business solution is a top down process. Senior managers
must take the intiative to become familiar with the solution and drive
the conversion from the top. This is a great read!
How To Implement E-Business Solutions Successfully
By Nowshade Kabir
Pitfalls of E-business solutions installation process
A
large distribution company has decided to use a new online supply chain
management solution. The people – those who were supposed to use the
system – were quite skeptic about the ability of the system, as they
did not have enough knowledge and had very little or no training in
using a similar system. As a result, it took over a year for the
company to bring the solution to its full operation. Productivity
suffered severely. The final implementation cost came out to be several
times more than initial budget. A large number of companies are
reporting to face similar difficulties with the implementation of their
e-business solutions.
The problems that occur while a company tries to implement e-business solutions, most likely, include:
Senior
managers do not spend enough time and efforts to learn and understand
the solutions. As a result, they have no idea how their workers will
adapt to this new solution; and fail to set forth quantifiable
objectives for them in terms of efficiency and productivity. The end
users do not receive required training. As a result, treat the new
solution as an added burden rather than a tool to increase efficiency
and productivity. In many cases, IT infrastructure is not up-to-date
enough and lacks power to support the new solution. Due to inadequate
understanding by the management of the e-business solutions that they
plan to adopt, often, the time and money allocated to the project are
far less than required. Often the advanced Internet based e-business
solutions require to be integrated with portion of old systems that the
company is presently using, which in turn, sometimes generates software
and system incompatibility. How to avoid pitfalls
E-business
solutions are sophisticated systems that encompass significant areas of
the company and its relationship with customers. That’s why
implementation of these projects should be carried out according to
detailed plans.
Preparation
Create a well
developed scope. In creating the scope involve all end-users of the
solution, not only the technical and business model experts. Get
answers to the questions like:
- What is the single most
important goal that the company is planning to reach thanks to this
solution? - What critical problems the solution is meant to solve? -
Are the time and money spent justifies its implementation? - What are
the implementation milestones? - How you will know that you have
reached those milestones? - Once you got all the relevant people of the
company involved in the process, choose an implementation taskforce of
experts from all required sections. This team should be responsible for
developing the implementation plan. According to this plan assign
resources and deadlines. Upon completion of each stage of
implementation get senior management involved in order to review the
progress.
Education and Training
Education should cover the “why” side of the solution and training the “how” side.
-
Identify the people that required getting trained and educated. -
Define objectives - Define training and education criteria and select
syllabus - Set the evaluation method - Conduct the actual learning
process - Assess their progress
Implementation
Implementation of the solution should take place according to the strict predefined stages.
Upon completion of each stage of implementation get senior management involved in reviewing progress. Conduct reality check!
-
How does the solution meet your expectations so far? - Is it doing what
it’s supposed to do? - Do you need to revise any of your priorities?
Once
the implementation is over, set up a thorough post implementation
meeting with the taskforce and the relevant end-users. The important
thing here is to identify if everybody involved with the project is
satisfied with the result or not.
In order to successfully
implement e-business solutions, it is very important that you fully
understand the technologies behind it. If require hire a consultant and
work closely with her. In the long run, this might save you substantial
time and money.
Here are other things to remember:
- E-business solutions are mere tools. Don’t expect them to radically change everything that you learnt about business processes.
- E-business solution implementations like any other project require strict step by step project management.
- Before
considering an e-business solution, make sure that there is a sound
business need to get it. E-marketplace, Private exchange, Business
portal are few of the e-business solutions that help you attracting new
customers and markets. These solutions also allow streamlining many of
the vital business processes. In your e-business strategy these
solutionsshould be at the top of the list.
- Keep track of the new technologies and keep an eye to
your competitors’ e-business strategies. E-business is an extremely
fast moving segment; you should be ready for changes and embrace them
whenever it’s necessary.
Nowshade Kabir is the founder, primary
developer and present CEO of Rusbiz.com. A Ph. D. in Information
Technology, he has wide experience in Business Consulting,
International Trade and Web Marketing. Rusbiz is a Global B2B
Emarketplace with solutions to start and run online business. You can
contact him at mailto:nowshade [at] rusbiz.com,
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/ http://ezine.rusbiz.com/archivenews.html?nl_oid=43
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/
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