How everything went wrong, but the finances of the project were not affected
Obsah
In the last edition, I addressed the human part of our project, in which a lot of things went wrong.
Today I would like to address the financial part, because it was one of the most interesting aspects of the whole project. In short, he hasn’t changed.
Project and budget
As you probably noticed in my last article, a lot went wrong during the construction of our cloud. We had a clearly conceived project, a given budget, a chosen scope, a set location.
The location has changed by 150 kilometers. The project was redesigned because the location changed and the solution could no longer work. The scope also changed, because instead of an extension, we faced a complete construction from A to Z. Only the budget had to remain, because it simply could not be changed.
The logical first thought is that this simply cannot be put together. It is actually not possible to prepare two projects, but stay on the same finances. So how did we do it?
One main foundation
Before we look at the specific points, it is important to focus on the main one that ensured this almost impossible task – a good partner.
I see more and more in the industry that any adjustments, changes, expansions, anything that has to do with the company’s IT infrastructure, needs to be dealt with in the company with a good partner. How many times have we sat in negotiations with companies that needed to solve their IT and if it weren’t for the consultation, they would have gone in a direction that could end in a catastrophic fiasco with regard to efficiency and finances. And when building our cloud, we tried that double.
Honest work process
How could a workflow lie, you ask? Very simply. If you rely on a partner to review, test, and build a given solution, you need them to focus on you during this process. But what if the attitude is more in the “It doesn’t work, but maybe they won’t figure it out” section.
If the company makes a good choice, it will, on the contrary, experience a situation like us – we tested it and there is a problem, we will have to do it differently, because the whole system could break and collapse.
When you build a house, you can hire a supervisor to raise this threatening finger for you. But when you’re building an IT infrastructure, few companies, even IT ones, have the opportunity to look after a supplier like this – a supplier that delivers extremely specialized work.
Readiness
In recent years we have experienced quite a shortage of some hardware components. It has affected the automotive and IT industries and many companies in other industries that rely on these devices.
But a partner who knows his industry knows how to walk in such situations. You need a partner who knows the market like the back of his hand and who knows the technology like the back of his hand. Something is missing – is there a suitable alternative? Something cannot be used – what can we use to make it work differently, but with the same result? Flexibility is very important in a partner and will show you how well he knows the environment in which he moves.
Vast know-how
Vast but specific. A good partner may specialize in a certain area, but he knows it down to the last screw… bit and byte. This point is closely related to the previous one – without know-how, the company cannot be adaptable and cannot bend the solution in such a way that it can be purchased regardless of the lack of supplies or unsuitable components.
How does this relate to finances?
It may not be obvious at first glance, but an honest approach, preparedness and top specialized know-how contributed significantly to the fact that our project almost did not have to budge on its budget.
Everything was tested so that it was a fully functional solution and we did not have to solve problems that would have cost us a lot of time and money. It also helped that we were able to get our hands on all the hardware we needed and it was built in a way that met all our requirements – including as much stability as possible.
A good partner really pays off, and even more so in IT. That is also why we try to approach each company individually and tailor IT, even if it is composed of the same components as for others, but something that makes the infrastructure unique is not always possible.
Has it also happened to you that your partner paid off, or on the contrary, was very expensive in the consequences?
