The decision on the success or failure of a transition falls already in the due diligence, ie the phase in the tendering process, in which the offerers are exactly under the magnifying glass. What are the strengths of the providers, and what are the possible weaknesses? If you concentrate on the “hard facts” at this point, you are already making the first mistake. For, despite all the legitimacy of analyzing providers’ economic, legal, tax and financial circumstances, in practice they are often soft factors that have a positive or negative effect on the transition, such as ongoing restructuring or mergers in the market provider organization. The evaluation matrix should therefore include categories such as “provider character”. Here is exactly captured: Are providers and clients on equal terms? Is the chemistry between the participants correct? And does the company culture of the provider match the contracting company?

On the client side, there are homework to do in advance of the transition, which go beyond the preparation of a skillful negotiating tactic: The Retained Organization as a controlling interface between providers and business units must – in addition to a dedicated project team for the transition and transformation (T & T) – stand early and the Take leadership. She is the one who has to live with the results of T & T during the contract period and should therefore be set up as early as possible and, above all, able to act in the transition project. One of their tasks is also to ensure that the previous provider is involved in the transition, so that the exit can be settled regulated. Ideally, the project is a mirror image of the new provider organized, so that content-related topics can be edited together.

Most common hurdles: leadership, appointments, people

Numerous T & T projects in the past have shown that in companies there are always the same hurdles that have to be overcome during the transition: lack of leadership, not tenable appointments, conflicts in the team and frequently: customer service.

The new provider does not take the leadership role in the project

The success of a transition project depends largely on the extent to which the provider assumes its role as project manager. He is responsible for creating the concepts, implementing the systems, operational readiness and finally migration. The customer classically provides information such as interface documentation, tests and performs inspections. In order to successfully end the transition, the provider must therefore plan and control not only his own but also the services of the customer, that is, take the lead.

Not infrequently, however, a valid project plan is only available after several months of an already ongoing transition project. Or the dates of milestones or deliverables move regularly. Back, of course.

This lack of leadership can have different causes: These can be deficits in the project management framework, possibly paired with weak leadership skills on the part of the provider. This may be the lack of involvement of the provider project leader in the contract specifications and as a result, unrealistic time goals. But it can also simply be a shortage of resources, both on the customer side and on the provider side.

Even if the provider is to take the lead, one must always keep in mind that it is in the customer’s own interest to make the transition a success. A pure consumer attitude of the customer would be naive to negligent and would sooner or later lead to failure – not only the transition, but also the desired outsourcing of the business.

Consequently, the customer can and must support structurally and methodically, if necessary – usually with topics from the small project multiplication table:

The milestones / deliverables are clearly formulated (“concept has been approved”) and an appropriate date has been set for submission for acceptance.
The entire transition is structured in phases and provided with major milestones, while only the next phase is planned in detail.
The project reporting is based on the customary templates and specifications.
The formal requirements for documentation, such as file names, versioning, content structure are based on the customary templates and specifications.
Project support for setting up planning, tracking activities and reporting is used.
In addition, project initiation must be explicitly planned. Ideally, the first steps are already in the due dil

igence determined

The dates of the T & T service certificate are not tenable

Who has turned the clock? Despite careful planning and preparation, in the end it is always the time that threatens to run away in the project. Important in such moments: Keep the main objective in focus. In the case of transition, this is the technical migration that must be completed on time.

It is advisable not to overburden the T & T service schedule with deadlines, but to schedule only the essential goals (e.g., “Go Live of System xy”). The further preliminary results necessary for this, such as acceptance of the migration concept, acceptance of the implementation of the security or successful user-acceptance tests are only content-wise, but not described in terms of time; this is done with the transition plan.

If, for example, the go-live of the system or service does not take place on time, this delay is commercially borne by the provider, since the few appointments are provided with a payment plan and possibly penalties and formally a contractual change must be made.

Even if the customer project team acts cooperatively, the customer management must remain as hard as possible in the commercial-contractual area (unless the customer is behind schedule with its provision services): Finally, the provider is responsible for leading the transition successfully.

The team has to get involved

Wherever people meet, there is friction. Especially where performance-oriented work is done, there are often situations with conflict potential. This is especially true when changes are pending. Rules of the game as principles of collaboration help keep issues from escalating. Basically, one has to be aware that conflicts are natural, necessary and constructive processes of team building: Each team goes through the four group dynamic phases “form-storm-norm-perform”.

Only a well-rehearsed and well-prepared team can achieve the T & T goals on time and to the satisfaction of all. Not to be underestimated: continuity in the team. Constant personnel changes are to be avoided, they bring more harm than good.