The technology landscape is littered with examples of projects that have fallen short of expectations, or worse yet, have failed altogether. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), over 70% of payroll/HR implementations are considered a failure. Of the customers that are successful, many are under-utilizing their systems’ capabilities. Research indicates that the vast majority of failed technology projects result from poor management or lack of executive support. Failures resulting from technical reasons are rare. Moreover, success is highly correlated to effective change management and the “neutralization of [other] inhibitors.”
In other words, expert guidance in organizational change, strategic context, and a focus on project methodology are critical to success. HCM implementation partners specialize in delivering customer value that goes far beyond a “lights-on” system. An on-time go-live is just the first milestone. Third-party implementation partners are able to achieve lasting value because their entire business is built around ground-level support and follow-through with their customers. Even more importantly, independent implementers are able to deliver the kind of transformational value that takes full advantage of the underlying technology’s potential. This, in turn, results in higher reference ability, as we will discuss next.
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