Make your new software onboarding a success
When you ask a risk manager what kind of risk the introduction of new software is, they would say, it’s a few.
New software is a short-term risk, it’s uncertain and it’s tactical. You’re doing this to give your employees the ability to get the most out of their skills and talents. It will also bring your business up to speed with the latest developments in your industry.
Crucially, it allows you to make products and services that are cutting edge and therefore, products customers will want to buy. So how should you introduce new software to avoid common pitfalls?
Get your strategy right
The strategy is the key to the successful implementation of brand new software. You should be aware that your employees might struggle using your new software if you don’t have an effective strategy that goes something like this.
- What are the key dates?
- When will it roll out?
- When is the first initial introduction to a few key talented employees and teams?
- When will it be used by more than one team on more than one project?
- When will it become the norm throughout the enterprise?
Training is of course going to be the most paramount step but, the timeline of implementation is also vital to get right. This prevents overloading employees, it allows you to accept new projects just in time for your newly skilled employees to deliver the results, etc.
The training
You cannot expect your employees to suddenly become proficient with the new software by throwing them through a tutorial. You need an effective onboarding program that has been designed to step by step, educate and test employees on the software. There are a few options for how you can do this:
- Training events: This can be fun with food and drinks for all those that want to partake. These can be held on weekends so you have more time to focus on each employee.
- Onboarding days: Make up a schedule for which employee will be onboarded and when? This allows you to give employees forewarning that they will need to set aside tasks or get them done at home, so their entire workday is focused on bringing up to speed.
- Competition: Once most of your employees are familiar with the software, you can hold competition days. Give the employees a task to create something the software is for, and set a time limit. Whoever uses it the best, gets a prize.
Q&A meetings
Some employees will have questions about the new software. You should have a professional or expert on the software to answer questions during the onboarding phase. However, Q&A meetings should be for answering questions like.
- How is this software better than the previous one?
- Will this software receive updates in specific areas important to the business?
- How will it improve the products and services?
The introduction of new software can be easy or it can be difficult; depending on your strategy. Make sure you’ve thought of everything mentioned here so you leave nothing to chance.
