Legacy software systems are costly. In fact, the bulk of your IT resources are likely consumed by simply maintaining outdated infrastructure. More than three-quarters of IT decision-makers said their teams spend 5 to 25 hours a week updating and patching legacy systems.
Yet, on the other hand, digital transformation also requires significant investment, and companies that invest in the wrong solution or mismanage a SaaS implementation face notable financial losses.
Whether you continue to bleed money through your legacy system or cut corners with a hasty, poorly planned SaaS implementation, you lose. However, there's another way forward. The only fruitful way to ensure a positive ROI on a software project is to build and execute a strategic implementation plan.
This guide—built on Canidium's nearly two decades of implementation expertise—unpacks the insights, challenges, and critical steps required to ensure your software investments deliver measurable returns.
In today's market, digital maturity is a competitive differentiator. A study of global banks found that digital leaders achieved annual shareholder returns of 8.1%, compared to 4.9% for digital laggards. Furthermore, banks with greater digital adoption saw their return on pre-tax tangible equity rise from 15.5% to 19.3%, compared to more modest gains in lagging peers.
In other words, the potential returns on a successful (software as a service) SaaS implementation, legacy application modernization, or new AI tool integration are well worth the investment costs.
While the financial upside is clear, estimating ROI for a software implementation can be complex. Factors include your current tech stack, solution complexity, vendor costs, and organizational goals. Yet, you can get a general estimate of your ROI by subtracting your estimated costs from your returns.
Here's what you should factor into your calculation:
A staggering 83.9% of IT projects fail, often not due to bad technology—but poor implementation. In other words, even if you've chosen the right software solution, your SaaS implementation might fail simply due to project mismanagement. Ultimately, your software implementation team is just as important to the project's success as your software vendor.
While your challenges may be unique, here are common recurring issues in IT implementation projects you should prepare for ahead of time:
Functional Requirements Documents (FRDs) are essential but often unread. Skipping details can lead to costly change requests and timeline delays. For example, imagine a company deploying SAP Commissions overlooks a key bonus structure in the FRD. It isn't caught until late-stage configuration, triggering delays and extra costs.
This is why it's vital to not only work with an experienced implementation partner but also to thoroughly engage in the SaaS implementation internally.
Scattered, inconsistent, or unstructured data is a silent project killer. Your implementation support team, regardless of whether you are relying on internal resources or working with an experienced partner, needs access to all stored information banks to successfully manage your data migration. Sales data spread across Excel sheets, CRM exports, and email logs can be managed as long as all sources are accessible upfront, but uncovering hidden data during the SaaS implementation can cause delays.
User Acceptance Testing reveals whether your system really works for end users. If training is insufficient or workflows are misaligned, expect resistance and rollbacks. For instance, if global sales managers find reports confusing during UAT, this might force a full extra month of testing and training program initiatives before going live.
You can ensure an efficient UAT process and help increase user adoption down the line by offering training resources early on. Many vendors provide learning management systems or training materials. Alternatively, your SaaS implementation partner can offer customer support in the form of additional training and thorough documentation of your uniquely configured system components.
Long implementations can wear teams down. Conflicting priorities or employee turnover during implementation can stall momentum. However, you can avoid or mitigate this problem by leaning on the SaaS implementation expertise of third-party experts or following these project management strategies and best practices.
Unclear ownership or lack of executive buy-in leads to missed requirements and low user adoption. It can also quickly derail an ongoing SaaS implementation. Building buy-in at the executive level is vital for successful project outcomes. The executive project stakeholder provides high-level support and visibility within the organization, offering strategic direction, securing essential resources, and championing the project across executive teams. Their involvement is vital for overcoming bureaucratic hurdles and facilitating smooth decision-making processes.
At Canidium, our proven approach to software implementation is grounded in transparency, training, and preparation. You can start your SaaS implementation project off on the right foot by following a few best practices for organizational readiness:
With an estimated $2.41 trillion lost to poor software quality in the U.S. alone, structure and foresight are vital.
Here is a short summary of Canidium's tried-and-true 9-step guide to software implementation planning:
Align early on business and technical needs. Define scope, discuss obstacles, and clarify expectations.
Avoid bloat by prioritizing critical features first. Plan phased rollouts to build value over time.
Key areas:
Account for potential project management roadblocks. Budget for licensing, support, and future scaling.
Clarifies:
Ensure all stakeholders sign off to avoid future disputes.
Leadership sets the tone. Use kickoff meetings to rally support and communicate expectations.
Conduct stakeholder workshops to define:
Cross-check the FRD against the SOW.
Not all changes are equal. Evaluate CRs for impact and value and implement only those essential to business outcomes.
Follow an iterative build-test cycle:
Prepare for success:
A successful software implementation requires alignment between internal stakeholders and external experts. You will need to establish an internal SaaS implementation team to collaborate with your software implementation partner. While the composition of your team may uniquely reflect your digital transformation requirements, here's what the average team looks like:
Key Roles:
Experienced service providers like Canidium help reduce risk and shorten time to value. Benefits include:
Software isn't static—and neither is your business. A successful go-live is only the beginning.
What to Expect:
Ongoing Services:
Understanding your costs is just the beginning. A strategic, well-supported implementation plan is the key to unlocking long-term value. When done right, the benefits are substantial:
The most effective SaaS implementations are built on clarity, collaboration, and preparation. At Canidium, we specialize in guiding organizations through this transformation with confidence.