Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 94 | Page 44

CIO OPINION
Investing in ongoing consulting services is not an expense , it is an investment in longterm success .
Ash Sawhney , Director of Global Professional Services ,
Zebra Technologies

Are you missing the ROI of your software development ?

Without access to experts through consulting services , the business impact of an enterprise ’ s software development may disappoint IT and business heads explains Ash Sawhney at Zebra Technologies .

Businesses spend a lot of time and money researching , building and launching all sorts of enterprise software solutions . However , there is a risk around a successful software rollout – the application is deprioritised , and the focus moves to bringing the next software platform online . That means employees will be asked , or told , to use a software tool that may not be properly optimised for their jobs – or ready to use at all .

Software requires technical support and feature optimisation , just like hardware , but in-house resources will need to move on to the next big rollout or the backlog of tickets built while they have prioritised a software launch .
And hiring new in-house teams dedicated to ongoing software maintenance and optimisation will take time , including addressing learning curves .
If many of the software features designed to enhance business operations , streamline processes , were not part of the project team ' s defined minimally viable product , MVP criteria , even though they would have been MVP criteria among the intended beneficiaries – employees , then you risk losing money on your software investment on the go-live date .
Without access to experts via ongoing consulting services , the business impact of your software investment may disappoint . Now ' s the time to tap into the consulting services offered by your software provider . Besides making it easy to transition into the maintenance phase , the outside consulting team will amplify the value of the software in many ways .
44 INTELLIGENTCIO MIDDLE EAST www . intelligentcio . com