[Or How To Not Lose Your Job & Home When Your Software Project Fails]
Change can be a scary thing. But what’s scarier: changing the way you do business or going bankrupt when technology disrupts your industry and catches you unprepared? You decide. There are three trends Oasis has identified as leading causes of the dreaded "NIGHTMARE" software implementation:
Not wanting to change and/or waiting until it’s too late.
Maybe these thoughts are keeping you up at night. “Is now the right time to change systems? If not now, when?” “Which system is right for me?” “Will my employees all quit when I tell them they have to learn a new system?” “Will I be able to afford it?”
Unfortunately we see way too much change being forced fed down the throats of our clients due to catastrophes affecting their business. Instead of being able to prepare for change and having the appropriate amount of time to make the best decisions for their company, organizations let a small campfire turn into a raging forest inferno.
Here are some examples of client horror stories that we’ve seen cross our doorsteps when it's already too late:
- You are unsure if your CFO is even producing correct financial statements. Or may be embezzling from your company.
- Your current systems have been hit with ransomware. And now some teenage Russian hacker is holding your historical data hostage and wants you to pay them $30,000 in bitcoin in hopes that you might get your data back.
- Your servers spark and crash, causing business to halt before a long holiday weekend when you had planned an upgrade…
These are all very real scenarios that can be avoided by being intentional and purposeful in your next software implementation purchase.
Think about it this way: When your arm falls off, you do not have time to think about which hospital has the best surgeon or how much the ambulance ride is going to cost you. You go to the closest ER to stop the bleeding.
While you are scrambling to revive your failing system, there is not enough time to manage process effectively. Change management is really the key to a successful software implementation project. Not function/features of the new app.
But this is where customers seem to spend 90% of their time and focus. A poor change management and adoption process can cause unnecessary stress, anxiety and failure for all your people when rolled out in triage fashion.
Check back for the next trend in this multi-part series on avoiding the IMPLEMENTATION NIGHTMARE. In the meantime, come hear Aaron speak more on the dreaded implementation nightmare at TechFest on August 16th at 2:00 PM at the Pendennis Club: Buy Tickets Here.
