Pre-Sales Pitfalls Causing Failure of IT Projects: An Exploration of Challenges Faced by Project Managers of an ICT Service Firm

IT project failure is a prevailing issue in the IT service providing landscape which impacts organisations across the world, causing losses, leading to customer attrition, and preventing them from reaching opportunities. While there are numerous reasons for IT project failures, a significant contributor to IT project failure is linked to pitfalls of pre-sales of such projects. This research investigates the pre-sales pitfalls, proposes strategies for their effective mitigation and corrective actions. Adopting an interpretivist paradigm, the study qualitatively explored pre-sales pitfalls and their impact on project delivery through semi-structured interviews with 12 IT project management professionals, aiming to answer three key questions: What are the common pre-sales pitfalls causing challenges for project managers during the project management phases of IT projects delivery? What strategies can be employed to mitigate pre-sales pitfalls and enhance project success rates? Why assessing pre-sales pitfalls is important at the start of project lifecycle of IT projects? Several common pitfalls were identified through 12 interviews conducted and validated with documents analysis, which hinder project success by causing various factors. The study also outlines strategies to mitigate pre-sales pitfalls effectively highlighting early project manager involvement, leveraging past experiences, and conducting risk assessments. Further, it stresses the importance of assessing pre-sales pitfalls early in the project lifecycle to prevent challenges and improve project success rates, stakeholder satisfaction, and proactive organizational actions.