How to manage a workplace technology project

IT projects are difficult to manage. From purchasing to commissioning, there are challenges and roadblocks at every stage. This is only amplified in niche workplace technology projects that your business rarely manages.?

I’ve often said to our sales team: we are workplace technology purchasing experts because we sell this every day. Our clients buy technology once a year at most. I strongly believe the sales process sets up the success of the project. Selecting the right product is hard and sometimes the easiest thing to buy is not the best solution for the job. Often your purchasing practices get in the way of selecting the right option.? With that, here are three tips to select and manage your workplace project.

1. Pick a side. Customization or set features.??

I’ve seen RFPs that require bidders to spell out how their product can integrate with systems that are not even used by the client and specify data storage and hosting requirements. To the extent the technology has to use specific container and orchestration tools that are the preference of the client but not common practice by the vendors. When it comes time to assess bidders, the client finds the vendors that can meet these specific needs to be ‘too complicated’ and they backflip and go with a simple hosted solution.?

It is likely that many of your vendors can be as packaged or customized as required but your bidding process needs to pick a side so vendors can respond accordingly.??

2. Remain flexible?

Gartner has found that seventy-eight percent of surveyed buyers thought their IT purchasing took longer than expected. It’s not just the sellers that find this process drags on. Therefore, it makes a lot of sense to start with packaged solutions that are easy to purchase. These could be set features that work with set integrations. However, your needs are likely to change, at least slightly, even in the buying process, let alone the lifecycle of the project. You need something that is easy to buy but can change and grow with your needs and priorities.?

This should be reflected in how you approach RFPs. Simplify the requirements to be the core priorities then favor vendors that can meet the requirements as well as adapt to unknown challenges. Set features combined with the ability to customize gets the best of both worlds.?

There is also an advantage in going the other way around. It might make sense for your business to have a customized bespoke solution upfront. But to get more out of that investment you want to be able to add new modules, plugins and features that are packaged without having to run a custom project every time. You wouldn’t rebuild your website every time you want to add a new page.?

3. Outsource everything that’s not in your internal skill set. Avoid supplier lock-in.

Set features also allow for a streamlined setup. If you want to take on customization in-house, that’s great, but the benefits of outsourcing allows you to focus on your core business. Just be sure to select vendors that allow for customization from any qualified third party. The quality of delivery and customization is essential to the successful outcome of the project. Having a platform that can be installed by others allows for competition and more options for the client.?

If you are assessing bids by a contractor on behalf of the vendors, look into the vendor’s training programs and developer tools to make sure others can take on the project if needed. And here’s the most biased part of my article: go with something open source if you can.