From our “Workplace Agility” Thought Leader Partner, MRI Software

Guest post by, Chris Vroman, MRI Software

The right workplace management solution can enable you to transform your business for the future of the office and drive huge returns on investment, but the prospect of implementing a new software in a time of transition can be daunting. Without an effective process for implementation, the results can be underwhelming at best and harmful to the business at worst.

By following three guiding principles, your organization can properly maximize the value of a new workplace management solution and quickly take advantage of the potential benefits, turning your workplace into a thriving workspace.

1. Know what you need to take the first steps

When implementing a workplace solution, you likely have already taken steps to assess what you want and need this software to do for your business. What’s equally as important is making sure that you have all the files, technology, and other software tools necessary to actually undertake the implementation process. Check with your enterprise software provider to make sure you have a complete list of any HR data or business organizational hierarchy information your provider will need for a successful implementation.

It’s also critical to get your internal team aligned on the goals of this process and what you need this software to do for you. There’s no such thing as overcommunication when it comes to implementing a solution that’s designed to help your business, and laying out the expectations for each party involved in the implementation process will help to push the project in one unified direction.

2. Overcome initial hesitation by working out issues across teams

Once you’re able to establish the files and tools that are needed, you also need to educate and gather input from the teams that will be affected by this process, including HR, procurement, IT, and Legal. Keeping these teams informed and up to date on why this new technology is necessary and how it will benefit the business is critical to gaining buy in and making sure everyone is on the same page.

Of course, implementing new software won’t always be popular with every person across an organization, and when it comes to change management, conflict will inevitably arise. This makes it even more important to involve other departments in the implementation process. By bringing in different perspectives, you’ll be able to address specific needs at the start of the project, and with different viewpoints, you’ll gain an even more thorough understanding of how your business can benefit from this workplace management software.

3. Deal with change management the right way

There’s a reason why some organizations tend to avoid new software altogether, and it’s not always because they didn’t plan for the implementation correctly. The actual change management process can be difficult if tackled incorrectly, and no matter how well you position yourself at the outset, there are several aspects you need to have in place for your change management that can make or break the implementation process:

• Vision
• Skills
• Incentives
• Resources
• An action plan

Without one or several of these key ingredients, your implementation will result in some combination of confusion, resistance, false starts, or all of the above.

While this still might seem like a daunting task, a successful product implementation is possible, and change management can play a big role in its success. For starters, many organizations believe that adoption of a new product has to be a “100%” issue, where success is measured only by rolling out a fully operational product with 100% of your critical data and information accessible in the system to every single member of the organization. But trying to implement your workplace management tool perfectly is a recipe for disaster. Instead, change management should look like getting your new system between 80 and 90% completed, rolling out to a small group of employees and assessing your results. From there, you can see what’s working, what’s not, and after you make the necessary changes, you can update the system and roll it out to a larger group of employees.

Through this method, change management can be a process that not only brings you the services you need, but also allows you to pivot when you encounter issues instead of delaying the rollout indefinitely to try and figure out what went wrong.

Avoiding pitfalls by going back to basics

Essentially, all three of these guiding principles amount to the basics of any successful project. Aligning your teams before beginning the process, managing your time well, and undertaking your implementation in a manner that allows you to benchmark your progress can set you on the path to a successful implementation and drive productivity with your new workplace management software. Learn more in this webinar.