You have big plans, now you need to implement them. Whether your project is simply upgrading or switching out an entire business’s IT infrastructure, the process can be, as Redonis notes, “time-consuming, painful, and costly to any business if it is not done correctly, under the watchful eye of an experienced Telecom Project Manager.”
Here are four ways to keep your telecom rollout ambitions on schedule:
1. Plan, Plan, Plan
This is obvious. Or it should be. But you’d be surprised how even the smartest businesses get bogged down because they didn’t have a detailed road map in front of them and clear launch dates. One of the most helpful ways to stay on task is to partner with an entity that can help you roll out from start to finish. There are plenty of companies that can provide the “boots on the ground” to get your telecom plans implemented at a fraction of the cost of sending in your own people.
Time markers and schedules need to be adhered to. While most companies can endure a project that goes off schedule a bit, at its extreme, running behind schedule can bankrupt a business.
McKinsey studied 5400 IT projects and discovered that: “After comparing budgets, schedules, and predicted performance benefits with the actual costs and results, we found that these IT projects, in total, had a cost overrun of $66 billion, more than the GDP of Luxembourg. We also found that the longer a project is scheduled to last, the more likely it is that it will run over time and budget, with every additional year spent on the project increasing cost overruns by 15 percent.”
So, the moral of this story: schedule and schedule tightly. If you have to readjust, readjust, but keep an eye on costs. Time is truly money, and most of us don’t have it to burn through. Partnering with an entity that can provide advisory services, project management, and project coordination using a traditional centralized model is key.
2. The Right People
Who are the “right people”? Partnering with an entity that knows where to find the right people can be very helpful. For your project, we mean experts that are fluent not only in telecom nuts and bolts issues, but also in employee account setup, legal agreements for labor tailored to the locality, and payment settings. Those will vary by geography, from traditional ACH deposits and payment cards to good, old-fashioned cash.
You’ll need employees or contractors trained in account configuration, to curate talent, or implement assignment creation and management. You need technicians who can adapt quickly to the unexpected in any locale.
Redonis goes on to say: “Project delays due to equipment-related issues are unfortunately pretty common. Out-of-the-box failures, mismatched configuration parameters, or incorrect settings can all bring a network migration to a screeching halt. Pre-testing along with qualified, experienced turn-up support are the key to minimizing project risks as they relate to the equipment.”
3. Platform Enablement
Build standards and scalability as needed. Billing and solutions company Rev.io describes the importance of platform enablement: “The goal for great platform enablement strategy is to align client needs with the platform’s solutions.” Working with an outside partner that has global platform launch capability will help you meet client needs. An outsider partner can help find the right people for your global platform enablement by vetting technicians and absorbing risk.
4. Launch
Simply rolling out isn’t enough. You also need to fill talent pools and have real-time results reporting. You want to partner with an entity that will monitor the entire process. You could be in a situation where you’re dealing with a patchwork of contractors and subcontractors, and you want an on-site field manager that can pull everything together with seamless consistency.
There’s one thread that runs through all four of these keys: 24/7 monitoring. You don’t want a system going down on a Friday evening and then having to wait until Monday for help. You need to have service available instantly to swoop and keep your telecom ambitions running at all times by fixing a break or initiating a repair, doing site surveys, or is available for multi-site deployments, and can handle hardware and software installation.
Follow these four steps and tie them together with the ability to respond 24/7, and you’ll be on schedule for success.
