There seems to be a constant flow of new emerging technologies appearing (all with great names such as Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning) and they all appear to promise maximum benefits with little implementation risk. However society is littered with technology disasters where technology did not provide the hoped-for benefits, the costs overran, it was delivered late and so on. This means that implementing emerging technology (or change for that matter) is risky which means upfront thought is required to understand all risks so mitigations can be designed
The following checklist of ten points should be able to provide some steer:
A clear business reason is needed which will provide benefits to the purpose of the organisation, as well as benefits to their customers, their suppliers, their staff and society in general. This will create focus, allow the implementation’s success to be measured and ensure technology is not implemented for its own sake.
There is a tendency to implement new technology quickly. Implementing any technology is a challenging process and it should be taken gradually with regular reviews. This allows the firm to understand the technology and impacts as well as build confidence and momentum.
All industries are governed by a set of regulations. While there is little regulation regarding emerging technology there is still existing relevant regulation. For example, data protection and sustainability legislation. Organisations must understand the regulatory landscape and ensure that is accommodated.
New technology brings risks such as cyber, operational, data, legal/regulatory, costs, revenue, etc. All these risks must be assessed and managed during the implementation to ensure they are mitigated. Risk management should not be covered as an afterthought.
Organisations need to develop new skills and capabilities. This does not just cover the staff ‘on the ground’ who will develop, implement, support and use the technology but also management who will need to understand the technology to allow them to use it strategically going forward.
Further to point #5 above, as part of developing new skills and capabilities, implementing new could involve either retraining/reskilling existing staff, staffing changing roles as well as recruiting additional staff. Unfortunately, it could also mean existing staff could lose their jobs by being made redundant. Regardless of the impact, (a) firms must understand what needs to be done as soon as possible, so (b) any staffing changes can be made as pain-free as possible.
Also when implementing technology, organisations will almost definitely need to engage with external suppliers and/or vendors. Therefore firms must select any 3rd parties with care by ensuring that the vendors can provide the functionality/service required, the commercial arrangements are suitable, the implementation timelines are appropriate and there is a good cultural fit.
A robust infrastructure is required covering Production, BCP, Test and Development etc. which in turn will be supported by processes and governance. This need to be factored into the implementation to ensure it is ready when the technology goes live.
Data is critical to businesses and emerging technologies (such as Machine Learning) need more data. Organisations need to (a) clearly understand what data is required and where they can obtain it, and (b) develop technology, processes, controls, etc. to ensure the data is sourced and controlled appropriately
New technology has social acceptance issues so customers, staff, suppliers and wider society will need to be comfortable to use the new technology. Therefore, education may be required.
To summarise, new emerging technologies provide real benefits to organisations, customers, suppliers, staff as well as to society in general. However, there are many real risks with implementing these technologies which if not managed carefully will create issues and reduce the likelihood of implementation success.
Paul Taylor is a consultant with over 30 years’ experience of implementing change across sectors. He is an author and speaker on subjects including change, freelancing, technology, financial services, research approaches and others. Paul is also chair and NED for a variety of industry and social enterprises, mentor and and Associate Lecturer for the Open University STEM School teaching Technology Management.