Recipe: How to spend the least money on consultants in a Modern Service Management project
AlfaPeople |
Jun 22, 2018

Recipe: How to spend the least money on consultants in a Modern Service Management project

ITSM – Time is, as you know, money. If there is anything that can take time and cost money in implementing a Modern Service Management solution, it’s a combination of bad decisions, inefficient processes, and malpractice. Here Allan Pihl from AlfaPeople is listing eight central topics, that companies should consider in the implementation process to save thousands on consultants.

When a company is collaborating with a supplier for implementing a Modern Service Management solution, there are a number of points in the working relationship that can and should be tuned. Partly to avoid misunderstandings. Partly – and most importantly – to land the project faster.

Based on experience from similar IT projects over the years, Allan Pihl, Lead in Customer Service & IT Service Management at AlfaPeople has eight good advices to companies that will invest in Modern Service Management.

Give the supplier a clear picture of what you want

Instead of the supplier catching the baton and define the objectives for the project, it should be the defined by the company itself on day 1 in the project.

“If the scope for the project is unclear, it takes a long time for the supplier to track down what the company wants. You must have made thought and discussed this beforehand and made a decision in advance.”

Map the processes yourself and define a baseline

Once I have determined the goal of the Modern Service Management project, all related processes must be mapped and a baseline for the performance must be defined.

“A supplier can easily map a company´s processes and define a baseline. But they cannot do it without the help from the company. You cannot get away not doing some of the work yourself and it´s an obvious place to save a lot of money. ITSM.”

Set the right team of internal and external resources

The external consultants on the team must have the specialist knowledge, the company’s own employees do not have. And the company must ensure that own employees actually have time in the calendar to work on the project.

“If the necessary decision-making competencies are always present in the team, time is running and the project will not move forward.”

Preparation is worth every penny

It is very valuable for a major project as a Modern Service Management (ITSM) implementation if the company has prepared well before the start-up meetings with a supplier. This may, for example, be in the form of clarifying workshops with the participation of key employees on the project, where the objective will be reviewed.

“If a supplier meets up at the first meeting and the company has not done any preparations, an expensive and time-consuming process will start, where everything is defined from the bottom.”

The project is craving for an engaged internal sponsor

A project sponsor’s main task is to clear obstacles and make important decisions when necessary.

“The internal project sponsor must prioritize its time and energy for the project, communicate to the rest of the organization that the project is important to the company, make available resources and subsequently ensure that system agents use the system actively. Without an active sponsor, nothing happens and the importance of the project is slowly descending in the entire organization.”

The bag on the counter

Contradictions and discussions of contractual nature can sometimes not be avoided, but if that happens, you can help yourself and each other by putting the bag on the counter immediately.

“What is the company’s expectation, what is the supplier’s expectation, and why are the two parties apart? Conflicts that are not handled immediately will become expensive. For that reason, a decision can be made in the midst of the management vacuum and it will subsequently be redesigned.”

Get to know the product

As a company, you can earn a lot of value from a Modern Service Management project through training from the supplier.

“The supplier’s review and training in the standard product is a good investment because it quickly clears many of the most obvious issues of the track, so time and effort are being used on the more advanced aspects of the solution. In addition, the review also gives users and project teams an increased confidence in their chosen product.”

Test, test, test

It has been seen before a company invests all the money and all the attention in the implementation phase of a Modern Service Management project but forgets or downgrades the test phase where users should start using the solution.

“The whole project can be lost and users can get a really bad experience if the test phase is non-existent. Because it’s in the test phase, users can ask in and get familiar with their new tools.”

If you would like further information, please feel free to contact us.

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