They fail in week 3 of discovery — when nobody asked the right questions.
Here’s what I see constantly when I sit thru those meetings:
<<How projects get doomed>>
Discovery: IT runs the requirements sessions. Business leaders are “too busy” — until the system fails them.
Success: Go-live IS the goal. No revenue targets, no adoption benchmarks, no accountability after the launch party.
Data: Migration is deferred to the end. Old CRM garbage is imported as-is — then everyone wonders why the reports are wrong.
Training: One all-hands Zoom the week before go-live. No role-based guides. No follow-up.
Ownership: The consultant owns everything. When they leave, your team is helpless.
<<How winning projects run>>
Discovery: VP of Sales, RevOps, and Finance are in every session. IT facilitates. Business decides.
Success: KPIs are locked before the SOW is signed — pipeline accuracy, rep adoption rate, forecast confidence.
Data: Audit happens in week 1. Migration rules are approved by business owners, not just the IT lead.
Training: Role-specific playbooks. Sales reps learn their workflow. Managers learn what they own and can see.
Ownership: An internal admin is trained from day 1. The consultant’s job is to transfer knowledge — not create dependency.
I’ve seen $500K implementations fail on every single one of these points. Not because the technology was wrong. Because the process was never set up to protect the buyer.
If your SOW doesn’t address these 5 areas — ask why before you sign.
Repost if this would have helped someone you know before their last implementation.
