Today, technology has important effects on business operations. No matter the size of the enterprise, technology has both tangible and intangible benefits that help to generate capital and produce the results that customers demand. However, with overwhelming options available in the market, procuring the best suited technology is not an easy or comfortable process. 

Infact, in a recent Garter survey, 56% of the respondents reported a high degree of regret over their largest Tech-related purchase in the last two years. For 73 percent of buyers of business systems, poor decision-making and a lack of strategic vision are the main causes of tech buyer's remorse, added the report.

Since the early days of digital adoption, there have been numerous failed digital transformation attempts that have led to a huge capital loss. In a few extreme cases, the overall reputation of the company was also hampered and tainted. A relevant of this can be — A big sportswear brand’s failed attempt to upgrade its ERP systems, that eventually led to a $100 million loss Moreover, with reputation on the line, the stock price of the brand also dropped by around 20 percent.

Digital transformation is indeed a herculean task to achieve. With numerous variables like — overwhelming number of options to consider, competing demands from internal stakeholders, and more, the chance of failing increases at an exponential rate. That being said, let's now jump into the most daunting pain points in technology adoption that are critical in determining the fate of a project.

Integration is Imperative

The main concern with new IT acquisitions has been how seamlessly a new system can be integrated with existing systems and how to implement that integration. This calls for an understanding of historical systems, a review of present contracts, consideration of transitional difficulties for a new provider, acceptability testing, and even a proof of concept. Within the supply chain industry, acceptability testing is a term that is well understood, but this is not necessarily the case for a proof of concept.

A proof of concept is an early assessment that an idea has the ability to perform as required. It also establishes the concept's scope, functional fit, amount of customisation, available resources, and other factors. A proof of concept can reveal overselling to the buyer and offer a clearer picture of the investment necessary, a better evaluation over time, and a better comprehension of the implementation.

This extra effort and money will be less expensive than a system with which the customer is unhappy or a botched deployment. The time it takes to conduct a proof of concept, however, might cause project delays and their related expenses. While a proof of concept is not appropriate nor necessary in every IT procurement, it should nevertheless be taken into account.

Perils of Customization

An attempt to avail customized solutions often tends to do more harm than good. Although customisation may seem like a good idea at first, in most cases companies later tend to regret the amount of time and resources it requires.

In most cases, customers end up spending time implementing the required systems as each feature needs to be custom coded and tested before it can be rolled out to the users.  This in turn increases the overall cost of the project. Put simply, a system that requires extensive customization is a recipe for buyers’ remorse. 

Study done by Standish Group projects that corporate America spends $275 billion developing custom software, out of which only 28 percent of custom projects are successful. On average, custom projects overrun the deadline by 224 percent and overrun the budget by 191 percent. Adding up true costs, 80% of custom software projects cost more than they return.

Choosing the right software

The technology sector is expanding, and what is novel now will be dated tomorrow. It has an influence on IT procurement and can provide the supplier an edge, but procurement experts struggle to determine which standard will endure. The essential understanding of the IT being acquired by the IT supplier and what is planned for IT development is a significant advantage.

Recognizing that buying IT in silos is a losing strategy is one approach to start tackling this problem. Due to the complexity of IT procurement, it is essential that several team members and stakeholders from the purchasing organization participate. Additionally, depending on the project, organizational project integration may be necessary for success. Internal subject matter experts or external consultants may also be required due to their increased involvement in IT procurement.

How To Proceed?

IT procurement should not be considered as standard procurement for other items but as a special transaction that needs careful and serious considerations. Experts in IT need to be involved fully in the process in order to avoid the challenges in the discussion above amidst many others.

Organizations also need to be keen to go through the procurement process while focusing on the future needs of the business.