Tag: Implementation

The planning process to implement any new technology can be a daunting process. A number of factors have to be taken into consideration to make changes as seamless and as timely as possible. All the while, your IT team will be managing priorities to ensure implementation is going smoothly while handing their day-to-day responsibilities.
Here are top 5 ways to optimize new technology implementation:
1. Understand the Business!
New technology doesn’t mean having top of the line hardware or software. It’s not always about being on trend. It’s about providing the right tools and systems into your organization to help it run efficiently to meet its objectives.
It’s important to evaluate current workflows and processes. By identifying gaps, it can help illustrate how new technology can improve current systems, enhance performance and motivate employees. In addition, it helps IT understand how other business areas operation and benefit your organization.
2. Get the Buy-In…Early!
New technology requires support from key stakeholders. You will need to work cross-functionally with other leaders and teams within your organization, and possibly external partners. That is why understanding your business is so key. Being able to speak to their specific areas and business needs can gain support for the new technology. The stakeholders can communicate the reasons and impacts of the new technology, which can translate to quicker adoption by employees across your organization.
3. Choose Your Project Management Style!
New technology implementation requires resources, time and money. While everyone would want projects to go as quickly as possible, you should make sure that the project will run as efficiently as possible. Again, the goal is to make deployment as seamless as possible without much disruption to your business.
Whether you follow Waterfall, Agile, Six Sigma, etc., the project management framework should fit the expectations set for the new technology for yourself and your key stakeholders.
• Consider your resource availability against your allotted budgets.
• Make adjustments where needed during your discovery and planning phases
• Make the project tasks and timeline available to all project team members
The earlier you have your framework outlined, the better prepared everyone will be.
4. Be Transparent!
In addition to being transparent with your stakeholders and project team members, you should also be forthcoming with information to employees who will be impacted by the implementation. Questions will arise during the process. If you can provide the answers sooner than later, it will help employees better manage their priorities and performance.
Some information may not be accessible to all. However, you should work with key stakeholders on the types of details that can be shared. This can be integrated into a communication plan for the implementation. The plan will help everyone to manage what information is shared and when before, during and after the deployment of new technology.
5. Always Be Testing!
Testing is a critical piece for any implementation. Don’t wait until the end of development or right before deployment. Testing should be ongoing throughout stages, or sprints, of your project. Testing isn’t only limited to your IT team. Quality assurance, staging environments and user-acceptance are important to your testing.
Develop an outline with scenarios and user stories to help key stakeholders, team members and partners understand the anticipated results of testing. With proper analysis, regular testing not only will it tell you what works and what does not. It could possibly great new opportunities for enhancements.
What other tips do you have to ensure your new technology implementation goes smoothly? Share with us!