Software Implementations - do it perfect the first time
By Pete Tanguay, Rock-Pond Solutions
Changing software and the associated business processes can be stressful and disruptive. Often it is not what is happening but our perspective on what is happening or the difference between what we expected vs. what we got that causes the stress. The following is a conversion insight that will help align your perspective and expectations so you’ll have less stress and more success if you are in a software implementation project.
Implementing a new system is a new beginning, a new opportunity to erase the mistakes of the past and get a fresh start and set things up how YOU want them to be set up.
At the outset of an implementation project you’ll hear things like:
- We’re going to take our time and do everything right the first time.
- If the system is set up right, there will be no more manual calculations and the system will do all of the work for us.
- The new system has everything we had in our old system, plus lots of new features.
Towards the middle / end of an implementation project you’ll hear:
- If I had known then what I know now, I would have …
- This is not how the (salesrep, trainer, support rep, my manager, …) said it would work.
- Even our old, outdated system could do that!
- I’ve already entered this data once, why do I have to keep going back and changing things. Couldn’t we have done it right the first time?
System implementation, much like system development, is often different than you might expect it to be. For example:
- Success is more about the ongoing process of using and adjusting the system than it is the initial implementation.
- Nobody gets it perfect the first time, including Microsoft. The idea to “do it once to learn it and do it again to get it right” has a lot of truth to it.
- We learn by hearing, seeing, doing and teaching. It’s really the doing and teaching that crystallizes new concepts and sends us back through the revision phase.
- If you aim at nothing you’ll hit it every time – or – if you can’t measure it you can’t manage it.
As you implement your new system, remember …
The goal is to implement each office on time without any negative impact on your customers (physicians, referral sources, patients, etc.)
Expect to learn as you go and to have to redo some things. The review and decisions to make changes, as well as the process of making the changes is where you will realize most of your long term benefits. Don’t view it as wasted time, rework or failure. It’s the process of getting better.
Be dedicated to the process of learning and auditing. New systems and processes should be constantly reviewed to make sure they are working accurately. Establish a culture of constant measurement and improvement. Training is not something that happens once at the beginning of the project. Rather it is an ongoing responsibility that each person should be doing every day.
Most of all have fun. You’re going to be smarter when you are done and less stress never hurt anyone!!