Tag Archive: implementation

1. Project Management in Banking

   February 27, 2025 12:00 pm Leave a Comment

   Project Management in Banking and How to Implement It

   

   In the dynamic world of banking, project management stands as a cornerstone for achieving strategic goals and operational excellence. The banking sector, characterized by its complexity and regulatory demands, requires meticulous planning, execution, and monitoring of projects to stay competitive and compliant. Project management provides that framework to navigate these challenges efficiently.

   The Need

   Enhancing Operational Efficiency

   Banks operate under immense pressure to optimize their processes and reduce costs. Effective project management ensures that projects are executed within the stipulated timeframes and budgets, leading to significant enhancements in operational efficiencies. By utilizing proven methodologies, banks can streamline their processes, eliminate waste, and improve service delivery.

   Regulatory Compliance

   The banking industry is heavily regulated, with frequent updates to compliance requirements. Project management plays a critical role in ensuring that banks adhere to these regulations by systematically managing compliance projects. This includes the implementation of new regulatory requirements, regular audits, and updates to internal policies and procedures.

   Risk Management

   Risk Management is integral to the banking sector. Project management methodologies offer structured approaches to identify, assess, and mitigate risks. Through thorough risk analysis and management plans, banks can foresee potential issues and implement strategies to minimize their impact, ensuring the stability and security of their operations.

   Strategic Alignment

   Project management ensures that all projects are aligned with the bank’s strategic objectives. By maintaining a clear focus on the bank’s goals, project managers can prioritize projects that drive the most value and support long-term success. This alignment fosters cohesion and ensures that resources are allocated efficiently.

   Customer Satisfaction

   In an industry where customer experience is paramount, project management helps banks deliver superior services. By managing projects that focus on customer-centric improvements, such as digital banking solutions and personalized services, banks can enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.

   Ease of Implementation

   Establishing a Project Management Office (PMO)

   The first step in implementing project management within a bank is to establish a Project Management Office (PMO). The PMO acts as a centralized body that defines and maintains project management standards across the organization. It provides governance, oversight, and support to ensure that all projects align with the bank’s strategic objectives. While the PMO is a formal and centralized body we often recommend that a bank start small and grow the PMO as the bank grows.

   Standardized Methodology

   Choosing and adopting a standardized project management methodology, such as Agile or PMI’s PMBOK, provides a structured approach to managing projects. This standardization ensures consistency and provides a common language for project stakeholders, facilitating better communication and collaboration. The PMO, mentioned above, will be critical in establishing this methodology.

   Training and Development

   Investing in training and development for project managers and team members is crucial. Comprehensive training projects should cover project management leading practices, tools, and techniques. Continuous professional development helps build a skilled workforce capable of handling complex project efficiently and effectively.

   Project Management Tools

   Leveraging technology is vital for effective project management. Implementing project management tools such as Microsoft Project, Jira, or Smartsheet can enhance project planning, tracking, and reporting. These tools provide real-time insights into project progress, resource allocation, and potential bottlenecks.

   The Project Management Culture

   Creating a culture that values and supports project management is essential for its successful implementation. This involves promoting the importance of project management across all levels of the bank, encouraging collaboration, and recognizing the contributions of project teams. A culture that embraces project management will drive better performance and outcomes.

   Conclusion

   Project management is indispensable for banks aiming to thrive in a competitive and regulated environment. By enhancing operational efficiency, ensuring regulatory compliance, managing risks, aligning with strategic goals, and improving customer satisfaction, project management provides a comprehensive framework for success. Implementing project management involves establishing a PMO, adopting a standardized methodology, investing in training and tools, and fostering a supportive culture. Through these steps, banks can harness the full potential of project management to achieve their objectives and deliver exceptional value to their stakeholders.

2. ERP Trouble: Four Reasons You Have It

   February 13, 2025 12:00 pm Leave a Comment

   

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   ERP Trouble Stems from Complexity

   Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are the backbone of modern business operations, integrating functions across finance, supply chain, human resources, and more. However, implementing or upgrading an ERP system is no small feat. It’s a complex project that can involve significant time, resources, and change management. While many ERP vendors and systems integrators promise streamlined processes and improved efficiency, the road to a successful ERP implementation is often fraught with challenges. In fact, many ERP projects experience delays, cost overruns, or fail to deliver the expected benefits.

   So why do these projects face problems? In this post, we’ll explore the top four reasons ERP projects struggle, and how businesses can avoid these common pitfalls.

   Reason 1 | Too big a change

   Upgrading an ERP system is seldom as simple as just swapping systems. Typically, an ERP upgrade or implementation requires significant changes in culture, competencies, and processes.

   If the scale of change needed in these areas in order to be successful is too large, or change management has been underestimated and / or under resourced, then it is likely the ERP project will see trouble.

   Reason 2 | Digital immaturity

   Some organizations do not have the basic technological infrastructure and supporting resources to be ready to adopt new ERP systems. If an organization’s underlying IT is not sufficiently developed, this may hinder an overhanging ERP project.

   Reason 3 | Lack of project governance

   It takes a village: for an ERP system to serve an organization well, it needs to account for requirements across all business functions and stakeholders.

   Therefore, during planning and implementation, there needs to be strong project governance mechanisms in place to manage cross-functional interplay, and provide clear leadership, well defined roles, and oversight on tracking risks and deliverables, with key sponsors and decision makers involved throughout the process.

   Without this, ERP projects typically suffer, delivering late, over budget, and not to requirements, if at all.

   Reason 4 | Over-customization

   An insistence on replicating a highly customized legacy ERP within a new ERP system is often a large red flag. Either there is not enough organizational buy-in to be truly ready to embark on the change, or the level of complexity and risk is multiplied, often by an order of magnitude.

   Either way, such insistence typically negates much of the financial and business benefit logic of upgrading to a new system (but the vendors and systems integrators will not tell you this, as they make more money when a client customizes / over customizes). This also means that the client may miss out on the best out-of-the-box and configurable features of the modern ERP system they chose to move to (as they are replicating a less modern system).

   Want to avoid these mistakes?

   Core Catalysts has a wealth of experience and expertise in helping clients assess their current readiness for ERP projects, prepare for change, align stakeholders, and select the right ERP vendors and systems integrators to ensure success.

   Likewise, we are skilled in guiding clients through the complex choices of customization versus out-of-the-box functionality and configuration, and in assisting clients with ERP project management and governance so that their projects are delivered on time, on-budget, to specification, with business disruption minimized, in order to realize the business benefits that underwrote the original ERP implementation / upgrade decision.

   Find out more

   Are you considering implementing a new ERP system? Do you want to make sure you avoid these potential pitfalls and are set up for success?

   If so, reach out to schedule an initial call or meeting with our ERP project subject matter experts, where you can tell us about your situation, we’ll ask questions and listen until we understand, and then offer suggestions on next steps.

   You won’t regret it!

3. A Deeper Dive Into Core Catalysts Implementation Recovery Services

   November 14, 2024 12:00 pm Leave a Comment

   

   Our Background in Implementation Recovery

   At Core Catalysts we have a leadership team with over 200 years of project implementation experience and expertise.

   Having “been around the block” (more than a few times), this means that, in terms of implementation, we have pretty much seen it all: the good, the bad, and the downright ugly.

   Because of our backgrounds, on many occasions, both existing and new clients have brought us in to help them when ongoing implementation projects and programs they are working on are going awry.

   Symptoms of a Failing Project

   While the specific situations and details differ, once we have “landed” at the client, the symptoms of a failing project that present themselves to us are often similar or the same, including:

   • Missed deadlines
   • Project budgets “bleeding” cash (i.e., significant overspends predicted)
   • Concerns that core business requirements will not be satisfied
   • Potential that the project will “launch” very late, or maybe not at all
   • Stressed out stakeholders and exhausted delivery teams

   Typically, the client teams “on the ground” can describe the issues they are experiencing and the concerns that they have, but no one is quite sure or can tell you exactly (with certainty) what the root causes are, which is obviously very frustrating to client leadership and executive teams, especially if the client has paid a big system integrator who promised that implementation would go smoothly.

   Our Approach to get Implementations Back On Track

   Fortunately, with experience gained over literally 1000’s of projects, our implementation recovery teams have developed keen senses for “pattern recognition” (because, while the situations are different, root causes typically fit into common “buckets” that we can run through like checklists, almost from memory) that allow us to swiftly identify the exact reasons that the implementation is failing.

   Sometimes, once we have diagnosed the symptoms and key drivers of the implementation problems, clients are able to fix them on their own. Unfortunately, even with these key pieces of information, more often than not, client teams are overwhelmed and, with the implementation issues continuing to mount, we are asked to step in and help.

   With our experience across multiple implementation recovery engagements, Core Catalysts have developed proven methodologies to both identify and quickly begin to fix what is wrong with failing implementation, getting them back on track fast, and assisting clients to complete implementations successfully (on time, on budget, to scope and requirements).

   Results

   Typically, within two weeks we will be able to:

   • Identify key implementation issues, and the major roadblocks currently preventing client teams addressing them.
   • Develop initial “game-plans” to fix them, in logical and pragmatic ways, adopting easy to follow, sequential, step-by-step methods and approaches.
   • Begin to execute these proposed solutions, gently but firmly, working with client teams and within existing implementation structures and resources.

   Clients usually see close to immediate reductions in “pain,” with implementation quickly moving back in the right direction, followed soon after by meaningful improvement in results and outcomes over the medium to long term, as our teams help work through and alleviate the issues identified and implement the required fixes.

   Equally, our teams do not use a “scorched earth policy” of placing blame on the client team members while taking all the credit – rather, we assess the people related issues that may be discovered and discreetly recommend changes and improvements where needed for the benefit of all involved.

   Benefits

   Benefits of engaging Core Catalysts assistance in implementation recovery efforts include:

   • Saving your team (from burnout, turnover, and taking eye off “day to day” priorities)
   • Saving money (reduction in budget overruns, using what you already have and have spent money on)
   • Saving time and effort (getting implementations back on schedule for go live, with minimal fallout or “taking eyes off the ball” of day-to-day operations)
   • Teaching client team members what “good” looks like, so that future projects can be sustained and successful, even when we are long gone

   Our key focus in implementation recovery is enabling our clients to take back control of their implementations, and the achievement of the original projected end outcomes and deliverables.

   What’s more, we have a 100% success rate in these types of projects, a long history of third-party collaboration (including with “Big 4” consulting firms), and are platform agnostic … plus, our goal is to just find out why there is pain, fix the problems quickly and cheaply, help take the project over the finish line fast, and then step back / away.

   If You Are Experiencing Implementation Issues

   Are you experiencing implementation issues or any of the symptoms of a failing project implementation?

   Do you want to stop hoping things will get better and start getting your implementation project back on track?

   If so, reach out to schedule an initial call or meeting with our implementation recovery team, where you can tell us about your situation, we’ll ask questions and listen until we understand, and then offer suggestions on next steps.

   You won’t regret it!

   -Core Catalysts Team

4. Inside the Mind of a Consultant

   March 3, 2020 12:18 pm Leave a Comment

   

   Once you understand what is going on in the mind of a Consultant, it becomes a lot easier to make sense of what they are doing and why. So why not take a moment and come step inside a Consultants brain (don’t worry, it’s a bright and fun place to spend some time).

   Editor’s Note: The definition of a consultant used here is more clearly explained in a past blog, Consulting as a Profession, as there are many people claiming to be ‘consultants’ in today’s gig world.

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   A Consultant’s mind is always focused on the why they are there

   Consultants work with client companies to solve specific business challenges. This is their “value-add” and their entire reason for “being”.

   Typically, companies hire Consultants for three main reasons:

   • For specialized expertise

   A company may hire consultants to provide a skill-set, that they don’t have internally.

   • To fill resource gaps

   A company may have the expertise to create a solution but could be lacking the person-power to finish the work within a required timeframe.

   • For an outside opinion

   A company may also hire consultants, in order to bring-in an objective third-party opinion or experience, ideas, and insights from outside the organization. Bringing in an outside opinion can provide valuable perspective on the business and empower leadership to make better decisions.

   This often means their projects fits into one of two “buckets”:

   • Advisory

   This is when a Consultant is hired to advise their client on things such as company strategy, market conditions, or operational dynamics within specific industries.

   • Implementation

   An implementation project can be an add-on to an advisory project. For example, after analyzing data, a Consultant may recommend some specific actions. If their client doesn’t have the resources or capabilities required to do this, they may hire the same or different Consultants to implement these recommendations.

   Knowing this helps explain why Consultants consistently focus on what the specific challenge or challenges are they have been brought in to look at, what they have been asked to do (advise, implement, etc.) or “bring to the table” (resources, expertise, experience, etc.), what the client wants, and the budget and deadlines involved with successful project delivery: they want to ensure they are always adding value!

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   A Consultant’s mind feeds on data

   One of the first thing a Consultant typically does when starting a project is create a ‘data-request’ (a long, long, long, list of documents, reports, numbers, and other relevant information) for the client. They also ask A LOT of questions.

   Why do they do this and why are they like this?

   Well, one of the worst things a Consultant can do is “shoot from the hip” … they respect that many of the people within their client’s organization have a significant amount of knowledge and experience built over many years, and understand that people from the outside who don’t take the time to analyze and understand the situation and organization have the tendency to say and do stupid things!

   This is why they hate to assume anything (they want to build trust with the client in both themselves and the process) and why Consultants are typically curious people, why they love to consume all that data, and why they consistently want your input … their brains crave information so they can build a strong fact-base, quickly, and be as informed as possible, so that they can effectively collaborate with all their client’s people, to help answer the questions and issues they’ve been asked to look at!

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   A Consultant’s mind is organized and analytical

   With all that data and information sloshing around, a Consultants mind needs to be organized: that’s why they love building and applying structures and frameworks!

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   Consultant’s often “think in pictures”

   After reaching their findings and forming recommendations, Consultants typically have to present them to their clients.

   It’s important to them that they make their presentations as clear, interesting, and insightful as possible, so they live by the old adage that “a picture paints a thousand words”.

   This explains why Consultants are often “PowerPoint Ninja’s” (they want you to get the full benefit of their work), are constantly drawing pictures, and can have strong attachments to their flip-charts, whiteboards, and colored markers!

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   Consultants mind’s think “long-term”

   Consultants live to make a difference: permanently improving organizational effectiveness and performance over the long-term is why they get up in the morning.

   In the mind of a Consultant, the worst thing that can possibly happen is that all their hard work goes to waste and is not implemented.

   This is why they spend a lot of time building relationships, why they focus on building consensus and commitment around their recommendations, and why they love to facilitate client learning (that is, teaching clients how to resolve similar problems in the future) … they want their work to be used and implemented, and they want their clients to be able to do what is needed for them and their company to be successful!

   Now that you understand what goes on inside the mind of a Consultant, and what makes them tick, do you think you might benefit from the help one of them could bring to your company? If so, why not give Core Catalysts a call!

   –Core Catalysts Team