Reducing the risk of implementing new technologies

A company that implements a new technology assumes an enormous risk; the failure rate of such investments is appalling. New technology can fail to achieve anticipated benefits, incur higher than anticipated costs, involve longer-than-projected implementation times, fail to meet technical expectations and create unanticipated incompatibilities between hardware and software systems. Studies suggest, however, that a company can boost its chances of succeeding in such ventures by minimizing its risk exposure in 3 key areas: 1. project size, 2. the experience that company staff or consultants have with the technology being implemented and 3. project structure. How a company can identify the risks it faces and apply managerial tactics to minimize them is explained.