New technology solutions offer the promise of enhanced revenue, efficiency, and customer experience. There’s also something really fun about bringing cutting edge platforms and tools into your organization. Those who adopt and master the latest technology instantly become more valuable in the job market, and the potential for career success accelerates. But let’s be real – adopting new technology into your existing ecosystem of platforms, processes, and teams can be a challenging and complicated task.
For nearly two decades, I’ve helped my clients adopt new technology solutions that have transformed their business into modern, agile, data-driven powerhouses while also delivering amazing benefits to their customers. Here are 4 strategies to help you improve the outcomes of adopting new technologies:
1. Confirm the value (the “Why”)
Before making an investment in a new tool or platform, be clear about the value you expect the solution to provide. It’s tempting to adopt new technologies because your competitors use it, research companies score in the “leader quadrant” or it’s just “really cool”. Sinking money, time, and political capital into rolling out a solution that doesn’t add value will be painful. Here are some questions to consider BEFORE you make the decision to move forward:
- What time dimensioned metrics will you use to measure success of the adoption? For example: financial, productivity, customer satisfaction, employee engagement, other.
- How does this solution align to the broader business strategy for the company, department, or team?
- What biases might you have that could influence your decisions about this solution?
- What other in-house or external solutions might be a better fit?
Seek input and feedback from others as you consider these questions. This will help you to have a well-rounded perspective prior to making an investment and commitment to move forward. Make sure there is buy-in and commitment from key stakeholders before moving forward. How can you ensure that the right stakeholders have skin in the game to make sure this goes well?
2. Help people through change (the “Who”)
It seems obvious, but somehow the impact on people often gets less attention than it deserves. Who are the people that will be impacted by the change? What is their level of awareness, desire, knowledge, and ability to operate in the future state? What does the communication strategy look like to promote the change? What investments are needed in learning & development, and where does L&D fit within the overall implementation plan? This article won’t go into detail about organizational change management strategies, though this is a well developed body of knowledge. Leading Change by John Kotter provides a great foundation for the topic. Prosci provides a simple framework for making change happen. There are many other frameworks out there – these are just 2 examples.
3. Alignment with the existing ecosystem (the “Where”)
“The technology is the easy part” is an adage I’ve seen proven correct countless times, as complexities often surface when a new technology must align with existing business processes and system architecture. Some key questions to consider from this lens include:
- What processes should change to best take advantage of new technology features?
- How should the new technology be customized (if at all) to fit your business model?
- Where would organizational changes make sense given the opportunity for automation or new business capabilities brought about by the new solution?
- What dependencies will be created once the new system is in place?
4. Implementation & Roll-out (the “How” and “When”)
At this point you’ve done the prep work to select the right tool, prepare people for change, and plan for how the system will fit into the current ecosystem. It’s time to stand-up the solution in your environment. Standing up new technology has some inherent risks which include:
- Since it’s new, the solution may be immature or have quirks / defects that you’ll discover.
- You may have overestimated the value it will provide, or under-estimated the cost or complexity of implementation.
- You might find that some features and functions presented in the sales demo don’t quite meet your business’ need.
What strategies can you apply to mitigate these and other risks? Here are some ideas to consider:
- Do experiments before full commitment. Consider investing in a proof of concept, prototype or pilot to capture lessons learned that may be applied to a broader roll-out.
- Look for opportunities for phased or incremental roll-out instead of a “big bang” deployment.
- Set aside resources (people, time, financial) to resolve issues or make enhancements based on early stage lessons learned.
Conclusion. Bringing a new technology solution into your organization is an endeavor that can be both exciting and challenging. Often, setting up the technology itself is the easiest part. A holistic plan must consider impacted people and processes is a way that allows for flexibility, lessons learned, and course correction.
Are you considering a high-stakes technology change within your organization? As your executive coach, I can help you to solidify your approach and increase the likelihood and magnitude of your success. Consider reaching out to explore how I can help you:
Email me at: Chris@motion-spark.com
Set up a free intro call with me: https://calendly.com/cmusano/intro
Learn more on my website: www.motion-spark.com
About the author
Chris Musano has worked for 18 years helping leaders and teams to succeed through high stakes change. As a consulting executive leader, he has hired and led more than 500 people across 6 countries, run 8-figure P&Ls, and worked with 10+ fortune 500 companies to drive complex change. Chris is a Certified Executive Coach and entrepreneurial investor that has founded 3 startup businesses. He lives in Charlotte NC, USA and helps clients all over the world to build impact, clarity, and influence in reaching their goals. Consider reaching out! Chris@Motion-Spark.com. Learn more at https://motion-spark.com
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