ReadWriteEnterprise

IT project failure expert Michael Krigsman shared some thoughts on social CRM adoption at Dreamforce last December. Krigsman has posted a video from Dreamforce and added some thoughts.

Frankly, I'm surprised there are enough companies that have tried and failed to adopt social CRM that anyone can deduce any trends yet. It's still such a new technology/strategy. But Krigsman's advice is good. It may seem obvious, but the problems he mentions are exactly the ones that trip projects up.

As 2010 draws to a close we're taking a look at a few enterprise startups that show promise and that we haven't covered on ReadWriteEnterprise.

Erply is a Web-based ERP application with support for accounting, inventory, invoicing, CRM, e-commerce, POS and more. Erply is trying to compete with established ERP vendors by offering a dead-simple and affordable ERP solution targeted at retailers.

Erply was a winner of Seedcamp 2009 where it received €50,000 in funding. The Estonian company has since raised $2 million, according to TechCrunch. It was also recently selected by the Wall Street Journal as one of the top ten European startups of the year.

As 2010 draws to a close we're taking a look at a few enterprise startups that show promise and that we haven't covered on ReadWriteEnterprise.

Jama Software's flagship product is Contour, a Web-based requirements management application for development teams and consultants. Contour's killer app is Review Center, a collaboration module that enables users to discuss requirements and incorporate feedback into a project.

We talked to Michael Krigsman, the CEO of Asuret and writer of the IT Project Failures blog, about why IT projects fail and what can be done about it. Krigsman says there is no "magic bullet" for ensuring success or preventing failure but there are some common mistakes that can be avoided.

Customers, consultants, and vendors form The Devil's Triangle. These are the three parties that are a part of every major software deployment. Each has got to get its part of the deployment process right or the whole thing will be a bust. Krigsman told us the most crucial things each party needs to get right and gave some advice on how each party can reduce the chances of project failure.

If you've been in IT long enough, chances are you've done something you really regret. Wipe the boss's hard drive? Delete an important backup? Preventing error should be IT's primary goal, but often we lose sight of this when implementing new and better systems, trying to meet deadlines, or when we're just plain not paying enough attention. What was the biggest screw-up you've made? Get that embarrassing story off your chest in the comments.

From time to time, it makes sense to step back and take a look at real stories about businesses that have transformed aspects of its IT infrastructure. It's a rare feat as changing your mindset is the only way to fundamental change.That usually only happens when the failure is so overwhelming that complete overhaul is the only answer.

We say this as it's evident that both the public and the private sector are often mired in IT environments that continually require additional resources just to run. People are in so deep that it makes sense to do the same thing over and over again.

The dynamics of why failure so often occurs can be analyzed by viewing the issue in terms of behavioral economics. Michael Krigsman wrote about the issue last week on IT Project Failures.