According to industry research, more than half of all digital projects fail. Why? And what can businesses do to avoid the pitfalls? Nick Vradis, Senior Pre-Sales Consultant at Telefónica Tech, discusses the reasons behind this concerning statistic and puts forward a useful checklist for digital project success.
It makes grim reading, depending on which industry stats you look at, that 60-80% of digital projects fail (1). From my perspective, with over a decade in project delivery, this means that those projects either did not deliver against their goal, i.e. the business did not see a tangible benefit from the changes, or they ran over time and/or budget.
In other words, surprisingly, most projects out there don’t deliver their goals. With technology playing such a vital role in our lives, how can this be? How do you buck the trend and set yourself up for success?
I spoke to 4 veterans of project leadership to get to the bottom of these poor industry rates, and to share insights into what’s needed to fix them.
This article is designed to act as a checklist for successful digital transformation.
Adapt or die
Digital transformation is everyone’s business, especially with the rise of AI. As the rate of technology innovation goes up, fast, the teams who can adapt quickest will win.
Unfortunately, a lot of business are still not set up for rapid change. Sadly, the latest business tools are left on the shelf as “nice to haves”, or worse, licences are bought and not used.
Aside from the frustration felt by the business user, this creates a massive risk to the business. With prices high and competition tough, using the latest tools and technologies is required.
With the shifting world of AI and speed of change, some businesses are staring down the barrel of ‘adapt or die’.
Why do most projects fail?
There are several reasons why a project might fail, from poor communication to lack of executive support.
More specifically, one of the main causes of failure is neglecting the importance of change control: Businesses focus on tools and tech, but can forget to look at processes. They underestimate how change affects people. They lose clarity.
“Projects must succeed at all levels—delivery, governance, user adoption, and strategy—for overall success. Failure at any level can lead to project failure.” – Areti Iles (Telefónica Tech, Head of Sector)
On top of this, Iles highlighted that another common reason projects can fail is a misunderstanding of the Agile methodology.
Agile delivery seeks to streamline traditional approaches by emphasising iterative progress and continuous refinement. However, businesses often struggle to adapt to this flexible methodology, which can lead to poor management and uncertainty—whereas ‘us’ humans require clear cycles of change to flourish.
Learning from our experience
Distilling the lessons learned from numerous successful and challenging projects throughout these veterans’ careers (‘the good, the bad and the ugly!’) into a single list is challenging. Nevertheless, these seven themes were highlighted as the critical aspects to success.
Let’s break down the 7 key learnings that will move the needle in the right direction and set up your digital project for success.
Focus on the fundamentals
“Good underlying governance processes are critical,” – Mark Thornton (Telefónica Tech, Programme Lead)
Good governance, solid communication and clear planning are must-haves for a successful project. People make mistakes, some more than others, me more than most. Therefore, guard rails and systems for organising the details of the project are crucial.
Over and above systems and tools are ways of working. Consider questions such as:
- How will we ensure that processes are followed and working as we want them to?
- How will we make sure stakeholders are engaged and available?
- How will we quickly resolve blockers, big and small?
For each one of these we need a handle we can crank to keep moving in the right direction.
Set realistic expectations
“A project can fail if the business lacks the necessary understanding or resources to effectively engage in the process.” – Matt Copple (Telefónica Tech, Project Manager)
If I had to sum up what a successful team needs in two words, I would choose true collaboration.
Working in tech for over 15 years, I’ve learned that—despite perceived pressures—it’s OK to not have all the answers immediately, and even better to be comfortable admitting it. This helps set realistic expectations and lay out how clients and partners can work together to find appropriate answers.
Because as no two humans are the same, no two organisations are the same.
Setting expectations on all sides is important. The goal is for the client and the partner to work together to find that winning solution to the business’ most complex challenges.
Manage change effectively
Don’t underestimate the disruptive impact of a digital project on your organisation. Ensure you have buy-in and support from senior stakeholders, and stick to an agreed approach.
Use a system and take people on a journey.
From Deming’s PDCA cycle to Kotter’s 8 Step Model, fundamentally, all change models point to two key aspects of change:
- Create loops that ensure positive reinforcement, and
- take the whole organisation on a journey – no one gets left behind.
Don’t be afraid to challenge
Ask ‘why’ to understand the problem you are trying to solve. Linked to what was said about managing expectations, no project will succeed with a team of ‘yes-men’.
Difficult conversations are necessary. Openly communicating potential risks and issues, even if unwelcome, builds trust and allows for proactive problem-solving. We all have blind spots, so never be afraid to ask the simple, ‘dumb’ questions.
Be open and transparent
Projects fail due to poor communication, lack of transparency, and unrealistic expectations.
Communicate honestly about progress, risks and issues – work as one team.
Celebrate success and learn from failures
A successful project prioritises conducting thorough lessons learned exercises.
Yes, this is hard, because everyone is busy, and we all have day jobs. Sitting down and having in-depth after action reviews is not on everyone’s list of fun Friday activities, especially when things did not go to plan.
However, this action is where we find excellence: taking a long hard look at what was done and making changes to improve the process. My top tips here would be to, firstly, have a process around this, and secondly, have that process as part of the PMO function. An external person running the debrief can help push emotions and personalities to the side.
People are key
“Work together and play into each other’s strengths. Let people focus on what they’re good at.” – Joe Akram (Telefónica Tech, Project Manager)
We’ve covered a lot of ground here, but pulling all of these elements together are the People.
As humans, we can only be transparent and open with people we trust. Change is hard, so if you can’t look left and right and know that you’re working as part of a real team then you will feel siloed and isolated – communication won’t work, and signals will not get through.
Instead, it’s a deal-breaker to ensure you have the right people, with the right skills, to build strong relationships and support systems that carry the project to success.
Finally, if you are skimming through this list and thinking, “we do all of that”, you might still be left in the 80% of projects that fail. To that I say: how well do you do each point? Quality is what will truly determine the outcome and your continued success.
Execution is everything
Digital projects can be complex, so working with the right tech partner is key. Choosing a technology specialist that puts people at the core facilitates a strong environment for projects to not only achieve goals, but to provide intuitive digital systems that users will enjoy and benefit from.
As well as our people-first approach, Telefónica Tech UK&I has been awarded the Microsoft Business Applications Inner Circle status for 6 years running, which is a recognition for performing amongst the top 1% of Microsoft Business Applications partners worldwide.
Speak to one of our consultants today to explore how we can work together to solve your most complex business challenges—with successful, collaborative digital projects!
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