Impact of Training on Project Success

A report entitled, ‘Impact of Training on Project Success’ written by the International Data Corporation (IDC) highlights the importance of investing in training to ensure your IT implementations are a success. It says,

”CIOs and IT managers diligently monitor and justify every investment they make, they must make every effort to ensure that each project succeeds and produces quantifiable benefits no matter how complex the deployment. During difficult economic periods when pressure increases to produce more with less, IT managers may see training programs as a place to cut costs. But cutting training will backfire", warns the IDC.

IDC research shows an undeniably tight link between training, team skill, and project success. It says,

“IT organisations that successfully deploy projects are more likely to use certifications as part of their IT professional development program. They also consistently make training available to every IT professional throughout the organisation”.

In addition:

• Projects that met most or all of their objectives provided each team member with twice the amount of training as projects that failed or only partly succeeded.
  
• Projects allocating 7% of the budget to training were significantly more successful than projects where only 4% of the budget went to training.

The IDC surveyed over 375 IT projects over 24 months. IT Managers were asked questions related to their team’s achievement of its significant goals and ability to meet major milestones. That information was plottedagainst the team’s skill, training budget, and hours of training provided to team members.

Select the link for the full report 'Impact of Training on Project Success'.

If you would like to share your project success story and how training investment played a part, it would be great to hear from you.