Teamwork Is Important Factor in Successful Implementations

I'm sure most of you feel like I do this week: grateful that the long, holiday break is over and I can get back to work. OK, maybe grateful isn't the right word; maybe it's more like sad. But however you feel, it's important to get the year off to a great start.

Not all IT projects are locked into a calendar year, but for budget purposes, many of them are. Those of you who are planning to initiate a project in 2012 have to be focused on making whatever implementation your business is undertaking a true success story.

Every month for the last decade or so I've written a case study article for Tech Decisions (we call them Business Solutions) on implementing some type of software. Some projects are more complicated than others, but all involved getting off to a good start in the planning stage.

Obviously, the case studies that reach the pages of our magazine or Website are successful implementations. Insurance carriers and software companies love to talk about success stories. Failed implementations? Not so much.

There is an old saying that we learn from our own failures. I can't argue with that. It's often a bitter education, but it is an education nonetheless.

We also can learn from the success of others, though, and that is why we present these case studies to our audience. Not every insurer wants to share their company secrets, but most are willing—often at the urging of their software vendor—to explain how a configuration can turn a potentially doomed project into a success story.

One thing I've learned from doing a hundred or so of these stories is that teamwork is essential between all sides in an implementation. Teamwork most often involves three parts of the equation: the vendor and its product, the carrier's IT team, and the business users.

Nothing works if the three sides can't reach an agreement on how best to resolve their individual issues. That is why sitting down and discussing the needs from each vantage point is paramount for a successful product implementation.  

When interviewing a company for a case study, the different sides often brag about the unity in a project as if it is surprising. It's surprising only because past implementations may have been unsuccessful and created rancor among one or more of the three sides.

Implementations work best when everyone works together and everyone benefits. That's hardly a shocking revelation, but you'd be surprised by how many insurance IT leaders cite that fact when interviewed for a case study.

We are always looking for new case studies. If your company has been part of a successful implementation, let me know. I would love to talk about it with you.