An IT pilot project sponsor, who is usually the vice president of IT or the CIO, should learn about the pros and cons of a technology pilot program before deciding to move forward. Learn more.
Project sponsors might want to launch a tech pilot program for various reasons. Here are some of the potential benefits of doing so.
Conducting an IT pilot program can help ensure that all major issues are identified prior to implementing the technology.
A pilot program also reduces the risk of needing to making changes in a production environment after go-live.
The employees testing the technology can provide feedback on any poorly defined features or features that might be difficult to implement as planned.
For example, IT staff might ask employee testers to provide feedback on certain features of a new email system if the features seem potentially problematic.
A pilot program can help the project sponsor and any other IT staff working on the pilot program learn more about the reasons for any employee resistance toward the new technology.
For example, employees participating in the pilot might feel like a new accounting system will lead to more work for them. The project sponsor and other IT staff can consider this potential issue and how to handle communication to employees to allay these fears.
Since the employees are testing a new application after the implementation team has carried out most of the testing, a pilot program can confirm that the implementation is going well.
A successful pilot, in which few issues arise and the project is meeting its predefined metrics, signals to the project sponsor and others that the implementation is on track.
The pilot can give insight into whether the implementation team will meet its deadlines and whether the implementation timeline is realistic.
If the test group of employees identifies multiple issues with the new application, the implementation team might need to adjust the go-live date or add more members to the team to ensure the group can accomplish everything before their deadline.
A pilot project can be a valuable learning opportunity and less intimidating to take on than a full software implementation. A pilot program is smaller in scope. Employees are often grateful for the opportunity to try the application before go-live, so they might be more receptive to software issues.