5 Stepping Stones to Successful Software Implementation

Let's face it, putting new software in place for your maintenance or environmental compliance department is daunting. Still, you know you can’t keep going the way you are working now. Something has to change.

In this article, we will break down how you can go from stressed out to streamlined. Soon, you’ll be more informed, make better decisions, and have a tighter grip on your maintenance and compliance processes.

So, let’s navigate through this together with a 5-step game plan.

Step 1: Survey the landscape.

Before you can even start looking for your dream software, you need to survey the landscape. Every company is different. Failing to understand your own company is like heading out on a road trip without directions or a destination.

You need to gauge your company’s tolerance for risk and appetite for change. Besides your own team, who else in your company is going to be affected? Who else is going to be required to use this new software? What is your company’s IT infrastructure and capabilities?

Be sure to have conversations with all of these people and get a good understanding of their wants and concerns. Organize everything into a document. This document will serve as a crucial reference and the rubric you’ll use to vet potential providers.

Step 2: Get approval.

Now that you have all of your background information, it’s time to pitch your project to your decision makers for approval.

The most important thing you need in this phase is to make a clear case about the benefit your software project will bring to the company compared to the cost (both financial and operational). Make a case for why you believe this project will achieve your goals.

Be sure to show the results of your interdepartmental research, how this project can benefit your colleagues, and what you will do to minimize the impact on their departments. This will show that you have thought through this initiative from different perspectives.

Step 3: Find your platform.

With approval in hand, it’s time to go find some potential providers.

Take everything you’ve learned up to this point and turn it into a needs analysis document. Contact the companies and provide this document to the salesperson. Ask them to prepare a presentation demonstrating how their software will achieve your stated goals and cover the features you need. The more information you can provide upfront, the less time you will spend on sales calls and demos.

Consider how much assistance and additional services are included in the prices you receive. Be wary of hidden costs, such as customization fees and contractor charges, as these could lead to increased labor rates and surcharges.

Don’t forget to find out how much influence you will have over future features. Your needs will change as you grow and improve, and you want to select a provider who will change with you.

Step 4: Implement and execute.

By this point, you will be chomping at the bit to put everything in place all at once. Resist this urge. The best thing to do is ask yourself, “What is the one thing we need to do next that makes the rest of this project possible?” Then do that thing.

Rely on your software provider since their team most likely has more experience implementing new software. (Just like a moving company has more experience moving people than the average person.)

Most likely, the best thing you can do is to get your data set up correctly. While this is time consuming, it is harder to do later, will make your software more effective, and will provide you with a better experience down the road.

Step 5: Measure, adapt, inform, repeat.

As you progress through your implementation, be sure to set milestones so you can measure progress and results. If you have allocated 30 days for data onboarding and successfully meet this milestone, it will bolster the confidence of your team and superiors.

Your initial implementation plan will certainly need to be revised as you learn and gather feedback. You might discover you need to change a proposed workflow based on changing business requirements. Or, you might want to change the order of implementation because of new data or a new perspective.

The important thing is to proactively communicate your progress and changes to everyone involved in the process. A great format to use is here is what happened, this is why, and what we are doing next.

While it’s a lot of work, you can effectively manage putting new software in place as long as you follow the basics of this 5-step process. It’s about knowing what your organization needs, getting buy-in, finding the right solution, executing your plan, and keeping people informed.

In the end, your department and your organization will be in a better position to hit your goals.