Multi-Media Collaboration Getting It Done
FlatWorldSystems can help make the right choices and execute the strategies.
If it is looking too complicated then there is something
wrong!
What needs to be done is a series of simple tasks. Break
down your project into these steps and it will simplify the process and
increase the chance of success. The first step is the most important and costs
the least in the long run. The steps are:
- Planning
- Implementation
- Operation
Planning is the most important part. It is further divided
into a number of smaller steps.
- Understanding
your current resource and process. Gather information about your current methods, manual or computer based, for collaboration for your staff, needs for sales, administration, after sales support/follow-up, purchasing, education. Try and collect details for all services and charges for your current
systems. Document your business process and its flow of information, interaction.
- What
do your competitors do better, the same or worse than you?
- What
do your clients think of how your use of collaborative methods or lack impacting their
needs?
- What
are your plans for the next 2-3 years which will impact your business process?
- What
can you afford to do?
- What
can you not afford to do?
- Do you
have internal resources and are would they be better or worse to use for
undertaking a renovation of your collaborative processes i.e. are they more valuable to your business elsewhere?
- What
is your timeframe for change?
- What
are the risks associated with change or doing nothing?
- Do
your current suppliers provide good service and are they capable of doing
what you need long term?
- Analyze
your choices based on the above and draw up a long range goal.
- Draw
up a path with achievable milestones to reach your long term goal.
- Decide
whether you want to do any of this.
Implementation should be straight forward if your planning
was thorough. If you plan on having the project done by outside resources make
sure that they follow prudent project planning and implementation practices and
they are accountable for the result. If you plan to do the work in-house or
only partly out-sourced, the same practices apply. Just because there is part
of the project in-house that doesn't mean that you skip steps.
- Develop
a formal project plan outlining a series of achievable milestones noting
costs, pre-requisites, materials, resources, expected goals, criteria to
ascertain successful completion, fall-back positions, risks and most
important set a real deadline and budget.
- Assign
and assemble resources to each step of the project plan. Make sure that is
reward for success and accountability for failure.
- Follow
the plan and track the results keeping all stakeholders informed
throughout. Document all work that was done for use later in operations
and maintenance and for disaster recovery.
- Test
along the way and especially at the end of the project allow for a month
or more of careful test and documentation for the operations.
- Develop
an operational plan and operations instructions.
Operation after the implementation is usually more expensive
and critical than the implementation. Implementation is one time. Operation is
forever. Be prudent about documentation and have a redundancy as well as a
disaster recovery plan. Test your fail over plans regularly.
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