It’s a hackneyed, overworked, inelegant maxim. But my God, it’s a good one: every dollar spent in planning saves five dollars in implementation.

Too many folks operate under the misguided notion that they can secure the best results for their businesses without investing much in preemptive effort. They believe an afternoon spent gladhanding and hanging in front of a handful of vendor demos will provide them with all the data they need to make an informed choice about what often proves to be a pretty hefty IT spend.

Or they issue a standardized call for quotations on a project whose multiple features and fiddly requirements are not given nearly their due in the process—and then suffer the consequences. (more…)