The hidden cost of delay

For most financial sector decision makers, the challenging market conditions of the past year or so - despite any recent positive portents that countries are exiting recession - have promoted a natural prudence or caution when it comes to initiating change or projects. It is tempting for them to delay an explicit project cost, or to introduce an additional justification step in the process. This may be the correct decision, however, you may end up saving on project cost but overspending on business as usual (BAU) budgets by pushing on with inefficient processes that need change.

In contrast to the cautious approach, we have seen some particularly agile, market leading firms understanding this equation, spotting the opportunity and biting the bullet. For example, this month a broker made an initial call to us, followed by two demonstrations of a particular piece of software, asked for a proposal and had signed a contract and started the implementation all within just three weeks. Other organisations take many months to go through the same process without necessarily adding significant additional value, but incurring additional BAU costs. A second advantage for agile firms is that they can demand more aggressive implementation timescales, more senior staff participation etc. as most suppliers currently have fewer projects underway.

So while I would not suggest that the more agile, rapid action approach will suit all clients and projects, it is worth checking whether your cautious approach is indeed the most cost effective.