Many IT directors are unaware of the legal protection they
have when IT projects go wrong, according to legal experts. This is
despite the fact that a body of case law has built up which has
shifted the balance more firmly in favour of IT
buyers.
IT consultants are under a legal obligation to offer their clients
sound advice. This protection was enshrined in a legal ruling 12
years ago.
Family firm Stephenson Blake sued IT consultancy Streets Heaver -
which had helped it to select an IT system - when it emerged that
the system did not behave in the way the customer had
anticipated.
The judge ruled that, as a professional adviser working in a
specialist field, Streets Heaver had a duty to think ahead for its
client and an implied responsibility to explain not only what the
system would do, but what it would not do.
The case means that suppliers can be legally liable if they gloss
over problems or the less obvious consequences of systems they
propose to end-users.
Specialist suppliers must now work within the terms of the Sales of
Goods and Services Act by providing systems which do what the
customer was told they would do. If the customer has been told that
the system will perform a standard function, that function must be
provided. If it is not, the supplier will have to pay the costs for
making the system work.
Allan Watton, managing director of IT consultancy Best Practice
Group, said IT directors should only award contracts to suppliers
that claim to be specialists in their field.
Another way to reduce the risk of getting into a dispute about an
IT project is to get a supplier to assess a company's needs,
according to Richard Mawrey, a barrister with 30 years' experience
in IT disputes.
This places an obligation on the supplier to ask questions that the
IT department might not have realised needed to be asked before a
contract is drawn up.