Do Projects make Good Investments?

So do projects make a good investment? Does it depends on the idea or the orgnisation and their budget or is it down to the quality of the management team and the viability of the busines case?

Whether its an internal return and benefit realisation we are looking for or an external business investment return for a group of shreholders or investors, viability of successful delivery and ROI is always key....or is it?

In my experience running projects both for internal benefit realisation for clients eg performance improvement, cost/risk reduction, consolidation etc or for investment companies looking for a turn key business solution the key factor has tended to be deep knowledge and experience in that business sector.

Understanding how to set up a datacentre and managed service business with solutions offered like Cloud, DR as a service, IAAS, PAAS, SAAS etc among others has teneded to mean a lot more than just delivery the IT. Questions like the following need to be answered:

- Do we know what is a feasible site for the business eg Connectivity, security, access, power availability, design implications such as the water level, pollution and so on..

- What services are being offered and their cost and how do you calculate the mark up providing key forecast data for both the banks and investors alike?

- How to get clients before project completion?

- What are the stages of the project and their costs?

- Competitor analysis and knowing what services are in demand

And so on... however some organisations are so large they skip the above and acquire successful competitors or back an idea or location that isn't great but through their influence and financial muscle make it successful. - Politicians are also great at that eg the Sydney Opera House - 14 times over budget and 10 years late but it is now a global icon and a huge tourist attractions and money earner - it all depends on timing and how you measure success..

Hassib F Mirza

+44(0)7434 252200

Cloudnet - Project People on Demand