The Problem

A multi-billion dollar international company was struggling with a critical ERP roll-out project that had fallen behind schedule and was facing significant budget overruns. Without change, the project was destined for further delays and project cost increases to the magnitude of two to three times the original estimates.

The Engagement

Following a successful Project Acceleration Audit, Brand Velocity (BV) was engaged to implement a series of improvement steps. BV was able to accelerate the project and strengthen the client’s team with independent and experienced resources. The team was able to develop both a comprehensive action plan to keep the project on-track and a broad contingency process to help manage risk better. Also, BV made sure that the appropriate resources were involved and properly aligned, allowing the company to rapidly develop an agreed upon approach to resolve key issues within 48 hours.

The engagement was successful because it incorporated proven BV acceleration practices, independent oversight, and effective contingency planning and management. In each step, BV worked closely with executive management, the project director, the systems integrator, the software supplier, and the board of directors to keep the project on track and achieve the desired objectives.

The Result

As a result, the client regained control of the project, with over $80 million in overall savings. The board of directors and senior management’s confidence was restored with a much better understanding of the costs, benefits, and the project plan moving forward.

The contingency process was institutionalized and continually reviewed to help decision makers understand trade-offs and make certain the project stayed on-track—to achieve one-time benefits of over $100 million and recurring benefits of $90 million annually. After engaging BV, the client avoided significant cost overruns and increased their self-sufficiency. Through better communications with the board of directors, senior management, and the project team, transparency of and trust in the effort increased dramatically. The client received a return of approximately 18x on the company’s investment in BV’s services.