Lisa Anderson, President of LMA Consulting Group, Inc., As we are beginning to emerge from the recession (and starting to feel as though we've survived the worst of it), executives are beginning to think about "what's next" - how to achieve their strategy and translate it into bottom line results. Yet, they are still tentative about making significant moves and spending precious cash. Thus, I'm seeing a reemergence of the value of project planning. Suddenly, I've seen a significant increase in demand for project planning, as executives want to ensure that their strategy is translated into bottom line results.
Common Pitfalls to ERP Project Success
As we are beginning to emerge from the recession, I've noticed that there has been an uptick in interest for ERP implementations. Of course, we are nowhere near the interest levels of pre-2000; however, businesses are beginning to think about investing funds into systems, at least from an upgrade standpoint. Throughout my career in almost every business function in multiple industries and in working with multiple countries and cultures, I've seen a common misperception hundreds of times in the last several years: the thought that the newest, brand name system or the latest system functionality will "solve my pressing business issues". Yet, I haven't seen it "work" once.
Top Traits of Successful Project Leaders
As we kick off 2010, it seems appropriate to consider how to "start on the right foot". After all, in 2009, many businesses were suffering in the recession and searching for cash flow; thus, many projects went on hold. However, in order to thrive in 2010, it will become critical to get in front of the competition and put in extra effort on key business projects. One fail-proof way to achieve these goals is to ensure the best project leaders are focused on the core projects.
Accelerate Project Results
In today's news headlines, we hear that companies are beginning to rebound from the recession in terms of improved profit; however, when we dig further, it's clear that the majority of the improvement is due to cost cutting without a commensurate improvement in revenue. When you look a bit closer, companies are still struggling severely to resurrect sales, and much of the low hanging fruit cost projects have been exhausted. Thus, in order to get in front of this trend of the never-ending survival focus, it is imperative to accelerate results in order to thrive. Accelerating project results is one key component in achieving this goal.
Project Management Software - NOT Critical to Success
Eliminate the excuses! There's NO investment required to achieve the 80/20 of project management success. As businesses are struggling in the recession or reluctant to spend as they slowly emerge from the recessionary climate, it seems timely to evaluate how to achieve project management success with minimal or no investment and complexity. The bottom line is that it is entirely possible to achieve project management results with current tools, software and resources.
Page 1 of 2
