8 steps to successfully implementing new business software

Adopting new practices and tools is crucial for a company’s development. Digital tools, among other benefits, can increase team productivity by freeing up time to focus on high-value tasks. But how can you be sure that implementing new software will be a success?

Introducing new equipment can be challenging, and mistakes made during this phase can have consequences for your business. That’s why it’s crucial to have a clear action plan from the start to ensure a successful implementation and achieve a positive ROI.

Here are the best practices to implement for successful software deployment within the company. Ready to learn more?

Assess the needs of the company

Before beginning, it is essential to understand the needs of your business and determine the features and requirements of the software. Your project team should work in perfect harmony and transparency with the software provider. Take the time to discuss what is possible or not with the software, whether improvements through updates are possible, or even support, tutorials, or other resources to facilitate user adoption.

Plan the deployment

Deployment planning should consider various aspects of the process, including user training, validation testing, and risk management. Risks can be human—will users reject the software? How quickly will they adapt to it? Will their productivity suffer?—but also relate to company data—if there is a software change, does it involve a data migration? How quickly can the data be transferred? How can it be secured? These are all questions to consider in your planning.

Assess the costs

Evaluate the costs of implementation, including development, training, and maintenance expenses. Will your IT department handle technical issues, manage interactions between various business applications and their resulting implications, and respond to user queries? Or would you prefer to leave management and support to the provider?

Select the right people

Choose the right people for the software implementation, based on their expertise and experience! Team managers have good industry knowledge and are close to the end-users. HR departments, on the other hand, have an overview of the project. Identify the key contacts for leading this project; they will be best placed to address any fears or diverse needs. Also, it is important to determine from the start, with the software provider, the level of support guaranteed throughout the deployment.

Train the users

Provide adequate training to users to ensure quick and effective adoption. Various options are available, such as in-person training, synchronous remote training, or even tutorials, which can often seem lengthy and boring.

Anticipate to avoid a drop in productivity

Software implementation can often lead to decreased productivity and affect employee morale. Some team members may feel discouraged or overwhelmed. Therefore, it is crucial to establish a digital adoption process tailored to your needs, both in terms of resources and organization.

Evaluate performance

Regularly assess the software’s performance to ensure it meets the company’s needs and user expectations. Are your users comfortable using your applications, web portals, etc.? Which features are actually being used? What are the most and least used processes?