You developed a carefully crafted strategy for your firm. And you spent months working toward the implementation of the new technology solution. And now that it’s finally live, the results are not what you or the organization expected. Maybe user adoption is low, maybe the benefits of the new tool aren’t clear and obvious, or maybe users have created their own work-arounds to perform tasks how they used to rather than how the new tool is intended.
The most common reasons we see project implementations fail include lack of comprehensive planning, poor data quality, and lack of strategic vision of how to leverage the new technology in the future.
These challenges lead to organizational frustration with the investment in the solution, and, with lack of data clean up, friction that limits the tool’s utility.
Executing implementation steps effectively is just as critical as developing the overall strategy. Without a clear vision for how to leverage the solution, firms risk losing their value entirely. Losing that value is costly in many ways; the biggest of which is doing it again. But getting the implementation right the first time opens the doors to more growth and more efficient operations.
Best Practices for Successful Implementation
- Link the Solution to True Business Requirements. The requirements must be all encompassing, accurate, and meaningful to the business. Leadership should be aligned on these requirements and external forces in the market should be taken into consideration in order to get ahead of potential headwinds coming from your competition or regulatory agencies.
- Expect Change. Avoid the trap of using the new solution the same way as tools of the past. Ensure that everyone understands the new solution brings the firm a new level of value and opportunity. Leverage the new tool’s capabilities to their fullest. Undertake early testing to get feedback and make iterative improvements.
- Communicate Clearly. The advisor, operational, and support teams need to know what to expect from the new solution and when. Keep communications brief, brilliant and to the point. Clearly show how the new solution will impact their day-to-day work in a meaningful way.
- Build Adoption Support. User acceptance testing is a critical step to ensuring buy-in, validation, and adoption at launch. Gather feedback early and give users a sense of ownership in the process. While FAQs and user guides help; also provide live, human support such as scheduled “office hours” and dedicated support to trouble-shoot day-to-day issues.
- Name a Champion. Identify a subject matter expert, by location if possible, that will be a go-to individual to support users post go-live and provide actionable feedback for improvements.
- Track Budget, Customization Needs, and Compliance Impacts. Maintain detailed tracking of everything from the project budget to the impacts the new capabilities will have on security and compliance workflows as well as future customization needs.
- Build in Constant Touchpoints. Set clear project evaluation milestones, which may include daily standups, weekly syncs, and monthly leadership reviews to ensure the project stays on track and issues are identified and addressed on a timely basis.
- Establish a Post Go-Live Project Backlog. You’ll always have enhancements and improvements to make after you go live. Create a backlog and designate internal ownership for working with the vendor or internal team to implement these changes.
Make it Netflix Series Instead of a Blockbuster Movie
The goal of any implementation is to leave your firm in a better place than where it started. However, firms often scale down their ambitions to avoid mistakes, minimizing the impact. Instead, define a strong minimum viable product (MVP) for initial launch, paired with a future state backlog, and communicate it clearly across the organization.
This phased approach allows iterative improvements over time, easing adoption by avoiding overwhelmed users with too many features at once.
How Firms Know They’re Doing it Right
Ideally, firms should feel confident that implementation is progressing well before they go live. Pay attention to indicators that show you if the project is on the right track. First, you engage end users throughout the development process, not just during testing. By showcasing, prototyping, and demoing early versions to future users and gathering their feedback, you build alignment and surface potential issues early. And second, you have disciplined project management. Well defined timelines and clearly outlines roles and responsibilities make it possible for your project reporting to reflect the project’s success.
How F2 Helps Firms Implement Technology Solutions
Partnering with F2 adds strategic value to every stage of a technology implementation. Our team brings deep, real-world experience, not only as consultants, but as former industry practitioners. We've led these initiatives both before and after joining F2, and we consistently apply that real-world experience to guide our clients around common pitfalls and toward successful outcomes.
We believe a thoughtful implementation should reflect the unique culture and operating style of each organization. That’s why we tailor our approach to align with your organization’s specific needs, ensuring a more seamless and impactful rollout.
Our expertise brings clarity to complex projects. From establishing realistic timelines to identifying critical milestones, we help you stay focused on goals while minimizing disruption to daily operations. With F2, you gain a partner committed to transparency, precision, and long-term success. This clarity helps you avoid costly missteps and complete a project implementation that achieves the results you expect.
For expert support on your next technology implementation, call F2.
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