Technology implementations have been a fundamental part of business for many years. By now, you would think companies would have figured out how to do them right, every time. Or at least how not to do them wrong.  But they haven’t. Why? Is there a way to make sure your technology investment, talent technology in particular, delivers its bang for the buck?

Today’s global workforce is expansive,but companies are finding that talent with the skills they need are in high demand. That means competing for talent requires the utmost in awareness for finding great workers, and maximum responsiveness for ensuring candidate and employee satisfaction. Technology is a big part of the equation.

From tools to augment applicant tracking systems to larger ERP platforms, innovative and flexible solutions are now being implemented that bring talent processes together across the enterprise. But here’s the challenge: a talent technology solution is only as good as its ability to make life better for every user and stakeholder, right out of the gate.

So, what stands between a great technology platform and an implementation that puts everyone on edge? Years of experience have taught me a simple, yet oddly elusive, answer: avoid avoidable problems.

In last week’s post we teed up the idea of avoiding the war for talent by doing a better job of internal development and succession planning. The key to making this type of program successful is the leadership and communications necessary to ensure managers embrace the concept of internal mobility.

Today we continue the discussion and focus on the roadmap and supporting technology:

We’ve all heard about the war for talent. The cost of losing a talented employee to the competition or being unable to deliver a product on time because of resource deficits are problems many businesses face today. While there is most certainly a battle raging for the top talent across virtually all business sectors, the “winners” are gaining the most ground not by raiding the competition but by developing internal strategies for career path and succession planning.