10 golden rules for success with large projects

set the right objective
It may sound obvious that the number one requirement for bundling one's telecom sourcing into a large project is the strict amount of savings that can be achieved from it. Yet, most of the outsourcing contracts which are being renegotiated before the end of contract deadline are not failing because of unrealized savings, but for other reasons. Thus one has to set the right level of expectations for this kind of large and complex projects, including qualitative criteria such as the sustainability of the provider, the quality of the relationship, and the provider's ability to evolve the current offering on behalf of your organization.
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allocate sufficient resources to the assessment of the project
It is absolutely necessary that the candidates for a complex project or a new outsourcing project devote enough resources, time and funding for the definition of the project itself. As it happens, large projects often involve complex cross-organizational relationships, not only at provider end, but also and mostly at client end. As a matter of fact, in this kind of projects, the service provider is not just merely responding to telecom provision requests and needs. Its role has to extend way beyond that of a sole provider, as the project itself is very much related to change management. As a consequence, the project has to be very well positioned across the board from the client end, in order to ensure that all the geographies involved are identified, well defined and that all the stakeholders in all the various countries are prepared for this important change. Failing to allocate the right level of resources at the beginning of a large project would jeopardize its future success and catching up with resource allocation at a later stage would prove both costly and less effective in the long run.
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rigourously assess the baseline of your telecom spend
One of the most common issues encountered in large telecom projects is related to the limited understanding a company may have regarding its current telecoms spend. As a result, initial cost baselines are often underestimated and lead to the wrong sizing of an outsourcing deal (experience shows that most clients underestimate their spend rather than over-estimate it). ICT specialists can actually support you in doing this. There are two main ways of appraising one's current telecoms baseline: either by resorting to an external consultancy which will carry out the audit of your current spend or by working closely with your preferred provider. This will help you to evaluate real costs and derive plausible estimates of the types and amounts of savings that can be achieved through the wrapping up of your telecom provision into a large project. Such a preliminary engagement (often called a joint opportunity assessment) is also the right forum for eliciting the project objective and key success factors. The more these objectives are set up in common with the provider, the fewer chances one has of running into problems further down the road.
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set the right expectations
Excessive optimism in large projects often leads to the overlooking of potential future issues: large projects or outsourcing are in essence difficult and complex. They require a lot of focus not only from the provider but also from the client. It is customary in this kind of complex projects to advocate management by Murphy's Law. Large and complex projects indeed imply that one foresees 'everything that could go wrong because it probably will'. Predictive project management is a must in this area and requires special skills which are mastered by our Large Projects experts. As a consequence, large projects management implies very thorough and predictive project planning as opposed to excessive optimism.
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allocate resources with appropriate know-how in your project team
It is absolutely necessary that the client project team comprises a significant number of experts who will be able to interface positively with the service provider. As a matter of fact, it does not just benefit the client itself but the entire relationship, and would make the large project or outsourcing project a lot easier and faster to implement. It is also necessary that the client team does not only consist of technical people, but it should also encompass sourcing, legal and managerial experts. This multifaceted team is what is going to make the large or outsourcing project succeed. As it happens, a lot of candidates for a new large project or outsourcing project choose to resort to external consultants specialized in outsourcing to support them with the preparation of the future project.
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properly assess the human factors surrounding the change management aspect of a large project
Should there be asset transfer from the client to the future provider, human aspects of the project are really paramount. Overlooking these human issues or taking them into account too far down into the project life would most probably lead to its cancellation or postponement. But the human factor in a large project is well and truly important even when there is no asset transfer plans involved. In essence, such a project implies that there are a number of different teams (both within the client's and also the supplier's organization) who have different objectives who will have to work together. As a result, as always in project management, one has to take the human factor into account, over and above any technical issue that may arise. At the end of the day, the project is about people working together, and has very little to do with technicality.
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incremental roll-out or big-bang?
Many large project failures are due to the bad appraisal of the method of implementation that should be adopted once the project is signed. The "Big-bang implementation methodology" is a possibility and sometimes it is desirable. But this kind of methodology also requires careful planning and integration of the human factor at the highest level (refer to rule number six for details). Otherwise the project will likely result in a failure for the client and service provider.
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be open to adapt business process
Naturally, most large project implementations require the service provider to adapt to a number of business processes and guidelines dictated by the customer. However, it is highly recommended that clients also pay attention to the best practices described by the service provider. It is common that a large project implies that the client revises some of its processes and redefines the role of its retained organisation. The implementation of an outsourcing relationship is often an opportunity for the client to adapt its business processes, redefining roles and responsibilities, and generate additional efficiencies by doing so.
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timely take a go/no-go decision
All experts in this field have witnessed examples where the client has not clearly validated the business case for a new large project before launching a request for proposal. In some cases, the client may then decide to work closely with service providers or specialized consultancies to further evaluate the feasibility of the potential large project or outsourcing project. This is typically the case when a joint opportunity assessment is launched, resulting in a clear go or a no-go decision. If this assessment is not done, issues may become visible during the contract negotiation phase, possibly leading to a cancellation of the project, meaning that all the resources engaged on both the client and provider sides have been mobilized for nothing. We therefore strongly recommend an in-depth assessment in order to determine the feasibility of a large or outsourcing project, either with a preferred service provider or with the help of an external, specialized consultancy.
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have a clear vision for the longer term
As explained in rule number one, a lot of large projects fail due to a lack of vision regarding the amount of innovation which can be instilled at the heart of the project. Too much focus on short-term savings will lead the client to achieve its immediate financial results but failing on its longer term ability to capture all the potential from new and innovative services offered by its service provider. In this case, there is a risk - which we have often witnessed in the field - that the client realizes after two or three years that some major technological advances have been made in the field of communications services (namely that of mobility services for instance) but neither its operations nor sales forces have been able to benefit from them. It is not rare that this kind of failure to achieve straightforward business benefits from new technologies is leading to the renegotiation of the project or contract. This is actually the reason why Orange Business Services has created a joint innovation program especially designed for large and complex projects.
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