90-Day Fix

As many of us have done, imagine that you are doing your off-site planning for the year or some midyear review.  You likely produce a list of wishful fixes (e.g., I wish that our CRM system did Y; I wish that our forms were different).  At most companies, that list is prioritized, a business case is created, and the items are flushed through a project portfolio management process.

Now, imagine that by the time you finished prioritizing, capturing IT estimates, and building a business case, you actually had an application to fix your problem.  That is the beauty of today's BPM systems.  In 90-days, you can take a process from a Visio diagram to a production application. 

The challenges you face will likely be around the organization.

1. Does everybody agree to what the process is and should be?
2. Can people switch their approach to work in that timeframe?
3. Can procurement buy the software, hardware, and services fast enough to not miss the window?
4. Does business have IT involved so that there is an organization to support the environment, maintenance, and provide help desk support after go-live?
5. What happens when you go from a qualitative approach to a quantitative approach to management?

The good thing is that there is no other option that is this fast.  Custom development won't be able to fix your issue in 90-days.  It's not easy, but numerous companies have done it.