Technology Projects in Finance and Insurance Organization
Implementing technology solutions demands an appropriate level of detail planning and diligent monitoring. These initiatives bring with them several challenges, and organizations could run the risk of surprises and expensive mistakes if something goes wrong. Timely identification of potential issues and developing solutions is essential. Otherwise, they could lead to schedule delays or incur unexpected costs.
Another cause of challenge is when each stakeholder group (including internal IT support and technology vendors) create their schedule plan. A lack of cohesion among these groups could spell disaster for the project.
- Often, Implementation partners offer support in managing projects, but this isn’t their core area, and their informal process reflects that. Vendors often overlook steps that are crucial to success, such as adequate planning, obtaining buy-in from project stakeholders, and managing stakeholder expectations. This leads to inaccurate schedules, a lack of engagement, and a critical shortage of resources. Without a standard project management methodology and the supporting tools to guide them, the team is likely to neglect essential requirements and miss early warning signs of trouble, forcing them to cut corners as they struggle to stay on track.
- Many of today’s business processes and operations in the finance and insurance sector hinge on technology, but integrating new technology solutions with legacy infrastructure and existing processes can be challenging and disruptive. Without a standard project plan for all parties to leverage – one developed with the participation of every stakeholder group involved in the proposed changes, and one that establishes responsibility for each activity – the resulting roadmap might not work as a cohesive system. This lack of coordination and control will hinder the firm’s productivity and the level of performance that can be reaped with the new solution.
- Projects with many critical paths, resource pressures, multiple impacts on business processes and procedures, and stringent deadlines leave no room for mistakes or delays in technology initiatives. Any failure to deliver the needed results, or any disruptions to the organization’s operational capabilities, could put a drag on revenue projections. Also, the enterprise may incur regulatory penalties if compliance mandates are not met. Getting work done the right way for the first time can mean the difference between the project’s and the organization’s success or failure.
- It is essential to involve all the right people early in the project’s planning phase. Doing this may seem cumbersome because of too little time available and many things to get done. However, without eliciting requirements from these individuals on dependencies, task durations, the project plan won’t be achievable or realistic. Unless this input is gathered and incorporated into a high-level, integrated plan, the project will be off-track and be expensive to salvage.
We apply our strong experience in planning and executing complex technology initiatives by working alongside internal project teams to help them successfully deliver their projects.
We supplement the knowledge of in house project team. We do this by applying our expertise and experience in managing the critical aspect of the project, this includes end-to-end planning, directing and managing the project work, monitoring and controlling the project deliverables, introducing the team to industry best practices on project management tools and techniques that can help the team deliver their project on schedule and budget.
By collaborating with our client’s in-house team, we move their software and related business process projects forward to successful completion. Our approach will help your team with the foundation necessary to leverage a standard approach to managing the project. This approach encourages accountability, enables tightly disciplined progress and timeline monitoring, and assures effective communication between the diverse cross-functional project teams.