There is a famous quote by John Wanamaker (1838-1922):
“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half”
The days of not knowing how effective our marketing dollar is, should be a thing of the past. However something has come to replace it – indigenous IT. IT systems which just appear from the bush. Projects which are a ‘must have’ which then go on to under-deliver.
The hidden costs of systems ‘implemented’ but not used, the cost of data breaches, the cost of audit and governance, the cost of poor data, underuse or misuse of systems, under training our staff.
When does an IT project actually stop? When the vendor says it does? When we decommission the old system? Or when we have defined a moment when we consider it to be properly onboarded to our org?
Too many projects limp over a finish line that has only been defined by the vendor. What value does that bring? Perhaps to a handful of people there is immediate value but if it’s a strategic system (say a CRM) then strategically you must decide what role that system must play in your business to effectively realise the gains it promises.
You might know how much value your marketing dollar is gaining you in sales, but do you know how much your systems are losing you in opportunity?
Don’t be like John in the 21st Century.