SHUTTERSTOCK ILLUSTRATION customized , so you may want to save some money by paying for external training for one or two people and then have them train the rest of your staff . This is fine if these staff members are experienced trainers who can thoroughly learn the software and deliver high-quality training . If you don ’ t have a professional software trainer in your company , get external training .
It will save you a lot of money in the long run if everyone undergoes proper professional training . And this may require different levels of training for different people : The person who does data entry in the new system needs a lot less training than the person who runs reports and creates forecasts .
Allow time for adjustment
If you transfer the old system ’ s data to the new one over a weekend , don ’ t expect everyone to be 100 percent on the new software Monday . This will not happen — even if they went to training before the system implementation .
You may not feel comfortable with the new software in the beginning , and your employees probably won ’ t either . People will struggle . Reports will be problematic . People will get frustrated , and your best , most competent employees may be the most frustrated . Why ? Because they were experts at your old system , and now they feel like the newbies . It ’ s a blow to their confidence .
Expect some turnover
Would you quit just because a company implemented new software ? It sounds ridiculous , but when a job at which you excelled suddenly has a new way of doing things , it ’ s like getting a new job anyway . You may have some people decide now is a good time to move on .
I ’ m not exaggerating . I once worked for a big company that acquired a smaller company , and this meant transferring all the small company ’ s HR data to the big company ’ s systems . The HR staff at the acquired company balked , and we later found that they were entering their data into the new system and their old system . They continued to use their old system for internal reporting . The two systems didn ’ t interact , and it was a huge mess .
I wasn ’ t privy to what went on behind closed doors , but the head of HR in the acquired company suddenly left . Did she quit ? Was she fired ? I don ’ t know . But it demonstrates what can happen when people refuse system changes .
Always stay positive
After all these negative things , it ’ s time for my inner cheerleader to come
What was it like when your company implemented new software systems ?
TWEET US @ COMSTOCKSMAG
December 2020 | comstocksmag . com 15