Part-2 in this series of introduced the different manifestations of failure in HR Technology deployment and adoption. Having seen the manifestations of HR Technology deployment failures, we will explore the total cost of failure and the potential root causes of these failures.

Total Cost of Failure of a HR Technology Deployment

To understand the cost of a HR Technology Deployment failure, we must understand the cost factors that should be considered when deploying a HR Technology solution. It is essential for us to recognize that there are different cost factors when adopting an on-premise deployment model or a SaaS model.

Cost Factors To Be Considered When Planning For a HR Technology Deployment.

The costs associated with a HR Technology Deployment include the following:

• HR Application license costs
• Third party application license costs (if deploying on-premise)
• Operating system license costs
• Database license costs
• Other third-party software application license costs
• Infrastructure Costs (if deploying on-premise)
• Hardware costs for development, testing and production environments
• Networking costs
• Selection & Deployment Costs
• Cost of internal resources for the needs analysis effort
• Cost of internal resources for the selection effort inclusive of stakeholder time
• Cost of external resources involved in the needs analysis and selection effort
• Implementation services costs (Professional services for implementation)
• Cost of time spent by stakeholders on the deployment 
• Cost of time spent by the project management team on the deployment
• Cost of time spent by internal HR SMEs
• Cost of time spent by internal IT SMEs
• Cost of time spent by internal testing team on the deployment team
• Cost of any additional resources hired to support business as usual or the deployment effort
• Cost of internal training of resources engaged in the deployment
• Cost of training the users of the organization on the new processes and applications
• Cost of modifications to third party applications to support integration
• Opportunity costs (Failure to engage in other projects due to this initiative)

Additional Costs If There is a Failure

Having identified the costs associated with the deployment of the application, let us look at the additional cost factors that come into play due to a failure. Should there be a failure, if the failure does not lead to the abandonment of the effort, we need to consider the following costs. Depending on the failure manifestation, the costs to be considered vary.

• Costs to analyze and identify the causes of failure inclusive of internal and external resource costs
• Costs to time spent on planning the effort to overcome the failure
• Costs due to delays in decision-making
• Costs associated with loss of productivity
• Costs expended to fix the issues
• Costs due to failure/ delays of cross functional touchpoints
• Costs of re-starting the initiative from selection (if project is abandoned)
• Costs associated with failing to start the subsequent phases of the planned roadmap
• Costs of talent burnout
• Costs of additional resourcing that might be required to overcome the challenges faced
• Cost of loss of reputation of HR
• Additional costs due to increased change management efforts to overcome resistance to change

Based on the list of cost factors both budgeted and those due to a failure, it is clear that the costs can be staggering when aggregated.

When viewed holistically from this perspective, failing to succeed in the HR Technology deployment initiative can have a significant impact on the organization’s bottom line and on the ability for HR to deliver value.

Root Causes of Failure

Having seen the costs, let us now look at the root causes of failure. The mind map below is an attempt at looking at the root causes that can be associated with the failure manifestations.

 Deployments involve multiple teams and team members, and hence failure is attributable to various factors. However, the ultimate accountability of the HR Technology deployment is the HR Function.

 The question that remains is, what does HR need to do to increase the potential for success in HR Technology deployments? We will look at this aspect in the concluding post in this series on the Art of successful deployment of HR Technology.