Business Led Technology Projects Are More Valuable

Wisconsin Technology Network News writes about a business led project at Dean Health Insurance. What caught my interest was that the VP of Technology, Karl Richards, used a large technology project to enhance the Project Management Office (PMO), making it more “business led”:

“The best lesson he’s [Richard's] learned from large IT implementations is that success often is predicated on the strength of business sponsorship and support…. Project leadership committees must be comprised of key business leaders and IT, but it’s a business-led group. “I sit on the committees but the key is that it’s business led,” Richards said, “and the idea is to serve business needs and to be in control and driving priorities.””

While the “business led” concept seems obvious, too often IT leads while business members complain. It also takes a strong, self-confident IT executive to let the business people lead. Many hold on to the PMO thinking that things will get out of control.

Are you an IT executive who has projects led by the business side of the company? How did you convince them to lead projects? Was it hard to let go of the leadership on such projects? What are the benefits of business-led technology projects?

Don’t miss a post. Subscribe via EMAIL or RSS.