In an age of ever-changing technology, it’s more important than ever to keep your company in the loop when it comes to new software. If you’re behind other companies in the same sector in terms of software, you’re at risk of being left behind. But software integration within an office can be incredibly difficult to roll out, particularly if you have numerous staff at different ability levels, and staff that are reluctant to change their working habits. You could be switching your email provider or implementing a new business reporting solution – whatever it is, for the new software to do the job properly, it needs to implemented properly within the office. Follow the tips below to implement new software within your company.
Choose the Right Software
There’s no use switching over to new software if it makes your job more difficult. The key to choosing new software is to ensure that it does exactly what you want it to do for all areas of the business, and that your staff will be able to use the software without needing a diploma! Ask the team selling the software for their advice and don’t get caught up in the sales pitch – make sure that the software will do what your business needs it to do and that your staff will be able to use it before going ahead and making the purchase.
Communicate at all Times
If you spring new software on your staff and expect them to adapt straight away, you’ll encounter much more resistance than if you communicate the information as far in advance as possible. As soon as you know about making the change, let your staff know and give them a little information about what the change is going to be. Advance information means that everyone will be more comfortable with the software change, and they’ll get acquainted with it much more quickly.
Manuals and Training
Training is essential for allowing staff to get to grips with the new software. If you don’t provide training, a lot of time will be wasted with staff struggling to understand how to use the software. If policies need to change, or if staff need new emails or logins or passwords along with the new software, get these all in place before training starts, then start training. Teach senior staff first and if you don’t have time to teach each staff member individually, delegate the task so that others can do the job for you. Clear, easy to use and understand manuals that include screenshots are also essential if any staff members get stuck once the switch has taken place so that they can get on with their job, instead of coming to you or going to another staff member for help.
Think about Rolling it Out
Roll out day might not occur at the same time for everyone. For example, senior staff members might get the new software first, then learn how to use it, then teach other staff members how to use it and then other staff members within the company will get the software. Think about whether you should roll the software out all at once, or in stages. If you have a particularly large company, think about training a few senior staff members extensively on the software before rolling it out so that they can help with training.
Above all, have patience! Implementing new software will take lots of time, patience and effort on behalf of your staff, so accept that the switch might not be as quick as you’d like.