How To Ensure Software Implementation Success?

A software implementation is one of the trickiest operations for a company. Especially when the new software is very comprehensive and is rolled out to multiple locations. The sound planning well thought out training smooth data migration and a perfectly timed rollout the introduction of the new software is on shaky ground.

Software implementation success

Planning ahead

Always start with a plan Identify the processes and teams that will be affected by the implementation and create a shared timeline for phasing the implementation.

Process design

Process design is a technique that allows you to organize and run things more efficiently no matter whether a business, software or a team. Most of the commercially available software nowadays has been created using process design methods.

Solution design

Once you have created the process design is time to work on the solution design, which is essentially a roadmap of business requirements and processes. During this step will map the software to your business requirements so that everything is working in tandem. You may realize that other methods work better after having used the software for a few months. The ultimate aim of solution design is to identify which features of your new software can be used just as they are and which aspects will need to be customized to fit the needs of business and teams.

Configuration and customization

It is now time to install the software and proceed to configure those features that can be used immediately. As a matter of fact, this step should always come first before defining any processes or rushing to customize any module. Easily realize that some modules and functionality of this software meet company’s needs while other aspects will require to be configured and connected to the roadmap you designed previously.

Integration

Integration is a critical step within software implementation and it involves migrating data from one system to another. With proper integrations you can save your team from having to copy data between systems manually. If accessing updated data is a critical thing for team you may want to consider running integrations continuously.

Reporting

This phase is about understanding what information is valuable for teams in order to improve their decision-making process on a daily basis. The good thing is most software nowadays includes data dashboards where visualize your business performance in case it doesn’t come with a reporting module it is something that you may consider to build and customize.

Training & testing

Training may come in different forms and to different groups from educating your project team on the new software to teaching the end user how it works. Even if people may have been already exposed to the same software somewhere else. We have finally arrived at the final step of implementing software successfully testing.

Conclusion

The business benefits of a successful project will be enhanced conversely a poor implementation can actually destroy value. It is therefore very important to consider the implementation carefully upfront and ensure you are aligned with the vendor on your expectations.