TOP SUCCESS INDICATOR IN A NEW TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE

The Critical Role of Business Outcomes

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The number of companies that fail at technology implementations ranges from 65% to 85%, depending on the source. And despite advances in technology over the past few decades, companies continue to fail at the same rate.

For that 65%, the failure is almost never due to the technology itself. The most common reasons companies fail include:

Failing to have a strategic conversation. Leadership often believes that if they fund the check and provide you with requirements, the work is done. That couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Viewing the process as an installation instead of an initiative. Companies that think they’re installing software fail. They don’t think strategically about why they are installing software. Instead they are just replacing what they currently have.

IT owning the system after go-live. After going live, the team goes back to their day-to-day work. IT takes ownership. The problem: The IT team doesn’t know what the business needs on an ongoing basis, or what needs to be added or removed from the platform. They are playing the wrong role, and, as a result, the company is getting an over-engineered system that no one is using – frustrating everyone.

No established cadence beyond go-live. It’s like the all-too-common scenario where a team meets, decides to execute on Plan A, and then never comes together again. We’ve all been there. The plan dies in day-to-day work. But ongoing conversation is important. Are you getting the outcomes you wanted out of the initiative, and are you adjusting if needed? Are you getting feedback from the user community and measuring adoption? Are your tactics working? Companies that aren’t asking these questions see no change.

Poor training. Companies that fail typically don’t train around the processes within the application or link them to outcomes they’d like to achieve. They are more likely to train on the features, and they don’t link those features to changes in the business. They also don’t conduct ongoing training for new team members, nor do they implement a process to train on new features in the solution. If a company does not have a way to push the right things out to the right people in a systematic and consistent way, they will struggle.

What High Performing Organizations Do RightOn the other hand, we call the companies that succeed (those in the top 35%) High Performing Organizations, or HPOs. Here’s what they have in common:

They have a leadership mindset. They think about why they are implementing a solution, and they view it as an initiative and not as an installation. One company we worked with struggled to secure adoption of their new technology solution. We learned eventually that their CEO hated CRM and was open about his feeling that it was a “stupid investment.” It was no wonder that nobody wanted to embrace the new solution.

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They have a clear understanding of the Why. They get organizational alignment behind the Business Outcomes they want to achieve as a result of this technology implementation. The companies that are the most successful with implementations view the initiative as someplace the company is going, not just software to install and maintain.

They have similar organizational structures. Nearly all HPOs have three layers in their organization, all with clear roles and responsibilities in the process. The first is the Leadership, responsible for defining the Business Outcomes, clearly communicating those and reinforcing them once the initial enthusiasm for the project wanes post-implementation. The next layer is a core team, a group of Subject Matter Experts who translate the Business Outcomes into actionable steps for the team to configure or customize tools for use. The core team is usually made up of Power Users who understand the tool and its purpose. The third layer is Administrators. They understand how the software works, as well as what the business is trying to achieve. Having these three layers creates a sense of synergy and ownership among team members.

They built a system for training. HPOs prioritize the right training for the right people at the right time to ensure that their team is not just embracing the software, but also the Why behind it. Training is well-rounded, incorporating application, process and reinforcement.

They have a cadence of accountability that goes well beyond implementation. HPOs know the outcomes they want to achieve, and the tactics they are going to employ. Because the team owns the initiative, and built processes around it, they have room to adapt, so they can better absorb change and accelerate through the change. If the Outcomes changed, they can change direction. And progress would not be disrupted by new team members or even new tools.

Alithya offers multiple programs to help companies transform into HPOs, one of the 35% of organizations that bucks the trend and succeeds at implementations. One of the most important programs – one that underlies all other aspects of becoming an HPO – is our Business Outcomes Workshop, aimed at aligning leaders around an initiative. This is done early, before a technology solution is selected. Corporate priorities must be set in advance so that technology can be aligned to the target outcomes.

What Are Business Outcomes?

“Very few people or companies can clearly articulate WHY they do WHAT they do. By WHY I mean your purpose, cause or belief - WHY does your company exist? WHY do you get out of bed every morning? And WHY should anyone care?”

—Simon Sinek, Author, Start with Why

In any business initiative, best-selling author Simon Sinek encourages companies to start with the Why. And then to figure out the How.

HIGH PERFORMING ORGANIZATIONS THINK ABOUT WHY THEY ARE IMPLEMENTING A SOLUTION, AND THEY VIEW IT AS AN INITIATIVE AND NOT AN INSTALLATION.

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Business Outcomes, simply defined, are what you want a technology solution to help you achieve. They are the Why behind the technology. Business Outcomes are used as:

• A communication vehicle to the extended team• Input for roadmap or technology scoping sessions• A primary driver for ongoing outcomes discussions and cadence• A model for driving and gaining alignment for other initiatives

For example, a company may want to grow with existing customers. What actions are they going to take to move the needle? Business Outcomes must be measurable so that the company knows whether their tactics are effective in reaching their desired Business Outcomes. Usually, they are measured with a lagging indicator, looking at whether revenue went up or down, for example. If increasing revenue from existing customers is the goal, how much do you want to increase revenue and over what time period? A company may believe that more visits to a customer will result in increased revenue. How many more visits will they need compared with today? Does the data show that increasing visits was effective, or does the company need to change course to grow with existing customers?

Business Outcomes WorkshopMost of the time, when asked why they failed in a technology initiative, a company will reply that they didn’t get the adoption they were looking for. But adoption of what? Were they told what features they should use to accomplish the targeted Business Outcomes? Because technology such as CRM and ERP do a lot, and chances are, a company won’t use most of that functionality upfront. Prioritizing Business Outcomes will help leadership determine what parts of those tools a team will use, as well as how a company should train them to use it. After all, if a company doesn’t focus on what they’re going after, they’ll end up doing nothing.

For Barry Wells and Victrex, a global manufacturer in PEEK and PAEK-based polymer solutions, a focus on business outcomes from the start drove the success of the company’s CRM initiative. “They didn’t start with the product,” Wells said. “They started with the business outcomes that we were trying to deliver, and working their way back into the system, implementation and partnership we would need to be able to achieve that. … Working with Alithya has been great. They really ask a lot of questions to understand our business challenges and are creative in finding solutions to those challenges, working step by step with everybody on the team.”

The Business Outcomes Workshop that kicks off this mindset is a minimum four-hour workshop that can be held in-person or virtually; it is designed to allow C-level leaders to share and collaborate openly about strategy, goals, opportunities and challenges within their organizations. The workshop does not include any software demonstrations, discussion of technical requirements, or software training. It is a focusing exercise that helps companies understand the front-line business benefits they want to derive from the technology.

Leaders of successful companies are most likely to be able to boast specific numbers about benefits from technology. For example, they can say that over the past year they

BUSINESS OUTCOMES ARE WHAT YOU WANT A SOLUTION TO HELP YOU ACHIEVE. THEY ARE THE WHY BEHIND THE TECHNOLOGY.

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had increased their sales by 12%, and the number of same-store visits went up by 20%. Those that can quote how well they’ve done are more likely to say that their team is using the technology. They had and continue to have a clear view of their Business Outcomes.

The Business Outcomes Workshop aligns leadership, drives the change required to get to agreed-upon Business Outcomes, and provides strategies to leadership to effectively communicate those to their teams. They identify the What’s In It for Me?, which, if answered satisfactorily, will help them gain buy-in across their organizations.

What Are Business Outcomes?

“My advice to future rollout teams: Take a break, go back to the end-to-end review, and make sure that every process is known. Define ownership for every process, and make sure that these are known and agreed upon both within the project team, but most importantly within the organization. It is especially important to address all processes from Lead qualification to how the Dashboards are used and consumed.” 

—Larry Bowers, Global CRM Project Leader, Aventics

Everything Alithya does is focused on Business Outcome realization. It’s not focused on go-live. It’s about realizing the benefits that companies signed up for at the beginning and giving them a path to achieve those.

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Aventics was an organization that had failed four times with a CRM implementation before reaching out to Alithya (known as Fullscope at the time), which led the company through the Business Outcomes Workshop. The fresh approach helped Aventics develop a long-term disciplined effort and shared ownership for the success of the initiative and the Business Outcomes the company was working to achieve.

The Business Outcomes Workshop sets a company up for long-term success. We encourage leadership to communicate desired Business Outcomes, stay visible throughout a project before and to stay engaged even after go-live. When the core team within the company demonstrates to leadership what’s been built, leadership can now ask the right questions about whether the tool will help the company achieve their Business Outcomes.

If you want your technology initiative to succeed, Business Outcomes should drive everything, from configuration and implementation, to the data that’s measured and the training that’s offered.

Go-Live is Only the BeginningAlithya’s programs work together to set customers on the right path to becoming one of the 35% that succeed with new technology. They are focused on adoption through leadership engagement and training; productivity by making the tool a critical part of doing business; and employee satisfaction. In short, the new solution becomes part of their DNA.

With this in mind, Alithya offers a comprehensive Customer Success program after implementation.

CORE Methodology: Alithya’s CORE methodology – Customer Owned Rapid Engagement – drives ownership. CORE is a solid building block in becoming an HPO. It positions users to become successful over the long-term. The CORE team knows what’s important in each phase of the project and helps the team become comfortable with the process. CORE principles include keeping an eye on the Why; immersing the team in the technology and process through ongoing training and best practices; and a quick go-live period, with no wasted time on functionality that does not support Business Outcomes.

Monthly Calls: Alithya then provides ongoing support through monthly calls. For accounting firm BDODrives, that ensured the system was working the way they intended with Business Outcomes in mind. Rebecca McClure, director of operations, said that these monthly calls dove into how the team was (or wasn’t) using the system and ways to improve. In addition, the companies spent time deciding next steps for the system, so it could be taken to the next level.

This was important to McClure, who said they prioritized simple in the initial configuration to aid in driving adoption organization-wide, knowing it would be an evolution and not just the flip of a switch. “Keep things simple at the start – don’t wow them with a huge system. Solve pain points quickly,” McClure said.

ALITHYA’S PROGRAMS WORK TOGETHER TO SET CUSTOMERS ON THE RIGHT PATH TO BECOMING ONE OF THE 35% THAT SUCCEED WITH NEW TECHNOLOGY.

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Training: Our ongoing training programs – available online, to download or through a Corporate or Rapid Training Program – are designed to help teams get the most out of technology:

• Black Belt Series for Dynamics 365 (CRM) A structured seven-stage course for administrators and super-users, this program is available in a variety of levels to suit your team’s needs.

• Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (Sales) Training Designed with input from experienced sales leaders, our Sales Training options help you more effectively leverage your CRM across sales user groups.

• Dynamics 365 Marketing Training Marketing is key to sales enablement. This 30-minute course gets new users up to speed with marketing in Dynamics 365, giving tools needed to associate targeted lists of prospects and track campaign results.

• Dynamics 365 Customer Service Training CRM can help keep customers happy. This one-hour course for beginners covers the basics of customer service in Dynamics 365.

• Custom Training Our team of experts can create material to help your team learn just what they need.

BDODrives found it was especially important to build a culture of employee advocacy for the new system, supported by training. McClure recommends finding advocates – usually super users – who will share their stories of success with clear results. And it’s also important to understand the team’s pain points: What are their difficulties, and how will (and is) the system help them? An ongoing conversation around these points is critical to sustainable success.

Alithya has successfully completed 1,500 implementations, both small and large. We believe that Go-Live is the real beginning to your journey and not the end.  We offer several programs to help customers translate their vision into results. If you’re interested in learning more, visit fullscope.com.

About Alithya

FULLSCOPE BECAME PART OF THE ALITHYA GROUP IN NOVEMBER 2018. Alithya is a leading strategy and digital technology company, with over 2,000 highly skilled professionals delivering solutions across Canada, the US and Europe. Alithya’s Microsoft prac-tice covers a wide array of capabilities, including Dynamics, Azure, business analytics, digital solutions, advanced analytics, application development and architecture. Focused on business outcomes, our combined companies have delivered Microsoft solutions to over 1,500 clients. Alithya’s global offering is to deliver strategy and digital technology services in addition to imple-menting ERP and integrated solutions.

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