In our previous article, we looked at the contribution of IT to a business. Now we will consider how to implement software to get things going and start seeing some returns. If you are convinced that technology can improve your business, the last thing you want to do is fail to implement it properly. This will take away from the benefit you could extract. In this article, we will see what you should take into consideration when implementing software.

Software Implementation

Paul Kavanagh in his book Open Source Software: Implementation and Management (2004, 221), says that Software implementation will contain the following steps: Selection (choosing the best software for you), Customization (adapting the software so it fits best into your existing business processes), Integration (making it fit with existing personnel and technology), Deployment (installation and training), Ongoing Support (getting help from suppliers on a continuous basis). To this, we would also like to add and Evaluation step.

Selection

The first requirement for proper software selection is understanding your own business. What are your business processes (We will assume that you have optimized how you will work). What are the problems you see in applying these business processes? What are the sticking points? Where are you losing efficiency? When looking at software, how will your choice improve things and how many of the issues will be addressed?

We have seen that business owners often place too much emphasis on the price of software. Now, of course, you do not want to put your finances under too much pressure, but you must also consider how much the software will pay for itself in the long run. Just as an example, it is often striking how managers will let employees work with very slow computers, because they do not want to spend the money for upgrades. They completely underestimate how much they are losing in productivity and how much more this is actually costing them. The same goes for software.

Also, when selecting software, you should not only consider the functionality itself, but also the customizability of the software to your unique needs, how it will integrate into your environment and what kind of support you can expect from your supplier.

We should be open to change at all times to improve things and keep up with a changing landscape.

Customization

If you have chosen the right software for your needs and you do need some adaptation in the software for your requirements, you can now fine tune it. In the real world, it will not only be the software that will need to change to fit you, but you will also have to change some things to fit the software. Underlying these principles, is the fact that you need to know the software well. We will get to this more later.

You need to carefully look at your business processes and then at the software and how it might need to change to fit. Does the software support some custom development to ‘plug in’ some unique functionality? How much will it cost to develop? Evaluate the need and benefits with the cost.

Integration

As hinted at, customization includes adapting work and employees to fit the software. We want to create a synergy between al elements of your enterprise.

Your new software will also need to work with existing systems in your business. Some could work independently, but others may have to be integrated. How will this be done? What data is to be shared, adapted or transferred? If you are replacing legacy software with new systems, how can the data best be moved? Again, the real world might show that we will have to make some compromises. Can you live with these?

Deployment

The software will have to be installed or maybe just registered to (typical for cloud solutions). Does your infrastructure support the new software? If you’re using a cloud-based solution, the quality, speed and dependability of your internet connection is very important for all users. Another consideration is the disruption the implementation will cause to your day-to-day activities. Scheduling will be important.

As we have seen, training is crucial for you to implement software efficiently. If the system is going to work for you, you must understand it. We have often seen cases where managers feel that their employees should know the software, but they will only look at the bottom line. This is a bad idea. Managers should know and use the software themselves. This way they will know where possible shortcomings are and whether employees are performing. We have also seen how the capabilities of software can trigger creative new ideas for business process improvements.

Ongoing Support

The more integral the software is to your business, the more support you are going to need. The more customizable the software is and the more integrated it is, your support requirements rise. Does your supplier provide good support for the software?

You want to have a good relationship with the people that supply the technology. It should be personal. You do not want to work with a different person every time. You want people who know you personally and know your business challenges and requirements.

Evaluation

From time to time, we should evaluate whether the software is working for you. Is it doing the job well? Where are there any shortcomings? Are too many people still working inefficiently and why is that? How can the software be changed to fix any issues? If there are problems in the support of the system, can it be corrected?

We can often become so used to a certain situation that we simply accept it without question. Sometimes an outsider, like a new teammate or consultant can see obvious things that elude us. We should be open to change at all times to improve things and keep up with a changing landscape.

Conclusion

In this article we looked at software implementation and how it should be done in general terms. We proposed a lot of questions you need to ask to ensure smooth and efficient onboarding of new systems. If you would like more information on our products and how we approach solutions in-place for your business, you are welcome to contact us.

Works Cited

Kananagh P 2004, “Open Source Software: Implementation and Management.” https://web.s.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/ZTAwMHh3d19fMTE3MTE2X19BTg2?sid=dd28753d-d34a-4386-a5f1-09184e30999e@redis&vid=3&format=EB&rid=2.