Janice Agar

A friend recently related to me how frustrated he was that his veterinary practice wasn’t using their new software to its fullest extent. With a little research, I found this article and sent it over to him.

Though the article addressed issues for packages that have already been selected and implemented, I was reminded of how many similarities there were with  software implementations, whether a new accounting package, small business suite, an e-Commerce solution, a CRM product or medical / veterinary practice management software. In particular, why so many of them fail to live up to their potential.

Large, build or buy, software projects or organization transformation initiatives, can have large teams dedicated to their success and there is still an estimated 50% failure rate for projects to deliver results as measured against original expectations. Experts have found that increasing the success rate means breaking down the project into manageable pieces.

The same concept can be applied to software selection and implementation for small to mid-sized businesses and I have highlighted below the steps that can be followed to increase your chance of a success. If you feel these steps are beyond your organization to complete, engage a consultant before you begin your project to help avoid the frustration that can result from a difficult implementation.

1. Define Your Objectives

Why are you considering this implementation and what are the problems or missed opportunities you wish to address? Answering this question and communicating the answer to key users of the new software will validate your expectations for the solution. At a minimum, their early involvement will help you identify which of the users will be early adopters (your new software champion) and those that may have a more difficult time accepting the new software.

Key Deliverable: Software Replacement Objectives

2. Document Your Requirements

Before you evaluate different software, identify which processes and reports are critical to your operations and document how you use your current software / tools. This will serve as a basis for you to compare new software options and ensure that your critical requirements can be met by your new solution. These critical processes should include an outline of new features you need to solve your existing software shortcomings.

Key Deliverable: Process Documentation and Requirements

3. Evaluate Your Options

The requirements and processes you have previously defined can serve as the basis for you and your key users to evaluate the software packages and web service based options available to you. Software reviews are plentiful on the Internet and in particular, user forums can be reviewed to identify recurring issues with packages or web service options. If you are planning on using a package solution, you may also want to engage a technical consultant at this stage to determine whether your existing environment can properly support its use.

Key Deliverable: Package or Web Service Option Selection

4. Train Your Key Users

When you have selected the software that you feel is the best fit, either the software vendor or other training experts can be brought in to teach your key users the best ways to use the new software. The users should have been introduced to it in the previous steps, and if you have also included them in the selection decision, it will go a long way to their acceptance and enthusiasm for the new product. While they are training they can update the process documentation to reflect either screen shots or software tips, to help define how to use the software in your business context. If engaging the software vendor or trainer is outside of your budget, have your champion work through the existing manual, help forums, blogs or corresponding ‘Dummies‘ or ‘Missing Manuals‘ type books, to support their efforts to generate the documentation. They in turn, can help other users adapt to the new software and processes. Users learn at different rates and having a reference document could make the difference for less adaptive users in accepting the new software.

Key Deliverable: Training Manual and Updated Process Documentation

5. Monitor and Update Your Processes

Once you go live with your software, try weekly update meetings with key users to check on how they are using the software and whether their processes, or the software setup, needs to be adjusted to meet their needs. These updates can be tapered down to monthly as your users become more comfortable with the software and as you begin to see the benefits realized from the new solution.

Key Deliverable: Ongoing Feedback Mechanism and Process Audit

At the end of these steps, key users have assisted you with implementing the right solution for your problems or opportunities. Additionally, your updated documentation should reflect your organization’s specific processes, helping you utilize the software you have selected more effectively.