Sometimes you can have the greatest technology in the world, spend time and money implementing it into your business, only to find the benefits are never realised.
It doesn’t matter how amazing the technology is, if staff won’t, can’t or don’t know how to use it, it’s worthless. That’s why you need a plan when implementing new tech, to ensure you get the maximum return on your investment.
Before we go any further, we’re working under the assumption that the right technology has been thoroughly researched and selected, and is now ready to implement. If this is not the case, check out our previous post about selecting the right tech for your business.
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Set a timeline
Setting a timeline also sets realistic expectations of your staff and stakeholders and informs them when important changes will be taking place. Matching your timeline with milestones also allows you to prioritise which features need to be up and running before others and lets you track your progress on the project.
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Assign a champion
Like all projects, implementing new technology needs to have a champion, someone to take ownership and accountability of the project. With no project leader, things can get missed, people think someone else is taking care of problems and other work takes priority.
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Communicate
There’s no point setting a timeline, if you don’t let people know about it. Continual communication is key to keeping stakeholders in the loop and helps to ease staff into the change. Letting them know about the project once and then six months later they come into work and their systems are different won’t end well.
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Educate
This is possibly the most important part of implementing new technology in your business, if your staff don’t understand how to use it, they won’t.
Make sure you are educating your staff throughout the entire project, so when ‘Go Live’ day comes around they are ready. Keep the education process positive and engaging as some users can be sensitive to change and may take some convincing.
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Go live
This is always the most exciting and nerve-wrecking part of the project, be prepared to handle teething issues and answer questions. Remember to communicate prior to the launch day and continuously throughout the day.
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Post Implementation
So this is an extra step we snuck in that’s not really part of the pre-launch project but is still super important.
Make sure everything is working as it should be, wrap up the little teething issues and review the process. It may also be worth reviewing areas that require further education and getting feedback from users.
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