• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Housing Technology logo

Housing Technology

Housing | IT | Telecoms | Business | Ecology

  • Free Subscription
  • Search Archive
  • Home
  • Research
  • Magazine
  • Events
  • Recruitment
  • Blog
  • On Demand
  • Contact
Home / Magazine Articles / The true measure of success (or failure)

The true measure of success (or failure)

From: Selina Olah, Finance director, Orbit Group

Sir – So you’ve hit upon the perfect systems-based solution to your latest major problem, or perhaps more likely, you were sold it by that very pushy salesperson at the last conference. You have convinced your finance director, secured the budget, written the business case and won over the board. What could possibly go wrong?

In my experience you will learn more in 10 minutes from the frazzled manager of a failed project than spending days visiting host sites recommended by the supplier. Having pored over many ‘lessons learned’ documents, the two most common reasons for project failures remain poor project execution and failure to change the pervading culture. And yet how many of us end up blaming the fit and/or functionality of the product?

How often do these two issues receive top billing in the business case? Sure, you may find some reference to them buried at the bottom of the risk map but if they are to be fully evaluated and resourced, they need to be pushed right to the top of the list of requirements.

Most IT solutions will deliver operational benefits; the suppliers wouldn’t stay in business long if they didn’t. But a solution is only a solution if it is embraced wholeheartedly and utilised to the maximum. To achieve this you need an experienced and doggedly-determined project manager, a fully-resourced and passionate project team and an innovative training and engagement programme that penetrates to the heart of the organisation.

Skimp on this and you’re setting yourself up to fail from the outset. And I wouldn’t want to be the one who has to explain to the finance director why that budget has doubled as a result, but then again, I would say that, wouldn’t I?

See More On:

  • Housing Association: Orbit Group
  • Publication Date: 030 - November 2012
  • Type: Letters

Primary Sidebar

Most Recent Articles

  • Free cyber-defence tools from NCSC
  • Learning from history
  • Grand Union Housing gets connected with Aico HomeLink
  • The silences in the system: Predicting and preventing damp and mould
  • Looking back and to the future: Cyberthreats in social housing
  • Hyde signs repairs contract with Totalmobile
  • Fuelling high performance automation
  • Morgan Sindall’s Carbon Zero decarbonisation tool
  • An ethical approach to arrears
  • Housing and the ever-evolving workplace
  • Supporting residents with home safety risks
  • Less innovation & more service design at RHP
  • Ateb Group outsources IT help desks to Central Networks
  • Capital Letters partners with Evo Digital to tackle homelessness
  • Calico appoints M247 for digital transformation
  • 24/7 care requires 24/7 technology
  • Govtech trends for 2023
  • Are you ready for business process automation?
  • Lincoln council moves to the cloud with Civica
  • Why do IT business improvement projects fail?
  • Flagship and Ebrik launch augmented reality app
  • Following the golden thread
  • Setting the standard for carbon-monoxide protection
  • The business case for data
  • Digital twins – When, not if…
  • Using data to build communities
  • The cyber-security jigsaw’s missing piece – Managed detection & response
  • Cyber-security challenges in housing
  • Digitalising retrofits with SHDF & HomeLink
  • Tips for improving care and support

Footer

Housing Technology
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Contact
  • Free Subscription
  • Book an event
  • Blog
  • Search All Articles
  • Research
  • Update Your Subscription
  • Privacy Policy

Welcome to the housing Technology – Trusted Information For Business Professionals in HOusing

Housing Technology is the leading technology information service for the UK housing sector and local governments. We have always believed in the fundamental importance of how the UK’s social housing providers use technology to improve their tenants’ lives.

Subscribe to Housing Technology to gain market-leading research, unsurpassed peer networking opportunities and a greater understanding of your role to transform your business.

Copyright © The Intelligent Business Company 2022 | Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy
Housing Technology is published by the The Intelligent Business Company. A company with limited liability. Registered in England No. 4958057 | Vat Registion No. 833 0069 55.

Registered Business Address: Hoppingwood Farm, Robin Hood Way, London, SW20 0AB | Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8336 2293

htc23 pop banner