We recently wrote about server replacements, one area of technology where CEOs should be involved in the decision making process. Another area where CEO’s should get involved: decisions that change the core, day-to-day software that your employees are using.
That’s not to say that it’s not a good idea to make major changes in the software being used by your employees, especially if it adds new capabilities. In fact, if you’ve been in a management role for more than a few years, there’s a good chance that you’ve had staff begging for a transition from some core piece of software that’s out-of-date, slow or poorly supported – it’s especially common in line-of-business software specific to one industry. But you wouldn’t rearrange every employee’s office without some serious thought, and changing the way they do their jobs each day can have a far larger impact than rearranging their office.
Before transitioning to a new piece of software that is central to multiple people’s jobs, CEO’s should ask for answers to the following questions:
- ● Does this significantly improve their ability to do their job, or achieve major cost savings?
- ● How will they be trained to use the software? Who will support them as they learn to use it?
- ● How difficult will it be to migrate data from one system to another? If there a fail-over plan if this takes longer than expected?
- ● How long will the transition take? When will be be up and running at full speed?
Ideally, you’ll be able to get employees’ input on current software before the transition. In addition to helping you make better decisions, this will also make staff members feel invested in the decision. Doing so should help improve morale and impact the ease of transition, increasing the likelihood that employees will be eager to use the new system to achieve maximum benefit.
To learn how WingSwept can help your organization make better technology decisions, call us at 919.779.0954 or email us at Team_WingSwept@WingSwept.com and ask about our Managed Service offering.