The Taming of the Tech Transformation: How to Deliver Projects on Time and on Budget

I’ve started this post on LinkedIn as an extension of my previously published report on Digital Doughnut to share a few findings about how to tackle the fear of digital transformation among retailers.

Despite unprecedented ecommerce growth, retailers are still wary of fully embracing digital transformation to meet the customers’ changing needs and optimize business operations.?

Here’s the paradox: according to a McKinsey survey, 64% of the companies recognize that their business models are becoming obsolete and plan to build new digital businesses to stay economically viable through 2023. Meanwhile, a recent Xero study found that five out of 10 UK businesses are reluctant to accept the risk of negative outcomes from tech-related decisions.?

Frankly speaking, I can understand the fear of small businesses. After a turbulent couple of years, they are anxious about how complex and costly the change process might be. But for mid-sized and enterprise-level businesses who can afford it, the risks of digital transformation can be mitigated with the right project management approach practices.

Let me show you how.

1. Have an ecommerce strategy in place to prevent project failure

You need to have your eye on clearly established business goals, mission, and vision to access an array of where-to-play and how-to-win case scenarios.

On average, 22% of digital transformation value loss occurs during the initial phase of development, meaning that the full potential of the project is compromised before companies even get started.

But with a sound ecommerce strategy in place, you can:

• Decide on your technology investment. The answer to “should I buy software or build it from scratch” comes up after you align your strategic goals with your business vision. So if you aim at improving customer experience (CX), you might want to invest in integration with other business systems, analytics and reporting, or scalability.
• Beat uncertainty. Plotting a successful strategy means considering the odds of success, market forces, and the industry headwinds in addition to the inside view of a company. Having identified your business needs and goals, conducted market and competitors analysis, and analyzed the as-is and to-be state of business, you can better weather the storm of present-day instability and even prepare for the global events like pandemics, wars, market shocks, and technological shifts.
• Manage change more effectively. If you have your eyes on the final goal, the chances of change in the middle of the project diminish. Or even if they take place, you’re more determined that a change will bring a better impact on your overall business processes.

2. Plan your budget considering the unexpected changes and the staff training

Apparently, as retailers set themselves to modernize their tech stack, it puts a strain on the budgets. Plus, if the development process is ongoing, high costs always recur.

On average, 45% of all large IT projects run over budget while delivering 56% less value than predicted. The reasons for cost overruns vary from the lack of business focus to an unaligned team.

To mitigate this issue at Elogic Commerce, we use the risk management and lean approach, where all the project is divided into phases. We never try to implement the whole product roadmap in a single bite. The more it is broken down into pieces, the more accurate the estimates and budgets will be.

3. Address gaps in employee talent

The leaders of Fortune 500 companies view the talent shortage as the top threat to business. Over 87% of executives experience skill gaps in their workforce and predict this trend for years to come. Unfortunately, few of them have a clear sense of how to address the problem.

Here are a few ideas for you:

• Re-skill and upskill your existing team. Amid the growing pressure to optimize costs and increase margins, more and more retailers now reorient their workforce towards strategic initiatives and comprehensively re-evaluate roles. Some most common ways to re-skill and upskill include company-led training sessions, on-the-job training by other employees, and courses from third parties.
• Encourage cross-functional collaboration. Michael Arena, a former chief talent officer at General Motors, explains that this method is effective if you pull people together for a specific purpose and for a certain period of time. “It could be that, for six weeks, we’re pulling people together for a specific purpose [...] Then those team members are going back to their steady-state jobs where we’re going to ask them to help diffuse this out across the broader organization.”
• Outsource and outstaff to meet the specific talent need. You can subcontract a third-party agency for a specific project or “borrow” an expert and temporarily incorporate him/her into your team. Both models are increasingly popular among IT ecommerce projects, allow you to fill the expertise gap, and save up to 70% of operational expenses in the long run.

My full report with more specific insights and stats can be found here: https://www.digitaldoughnut.com/articles/2022/july-2022/the-state-of-ecommerce-project-management-2022?

Comment below if you know more tricks to tame digital transformation projects!

Visit Elogic Commerce website to get more information.