Top 3 Considerations When Implementing Brand New Software
Posted on: February 17, 2016 | By: David Kwo | QAD Business Process
We are often asked our opinion when clients are presented with the option to becoming an early adopter of new functionality. Being an early adopter can offer advantages. It allows you to influence and guide development such that it can be more tailored to your specific needs. This is especially important if the new software solves a problem that can’t wait. There can be a tremendous benefit to a long-term relationship with the software vendor. Of course, there are also cons. You are the beta tester and thus it sometimes takes two or three releases to get to a more stable version of the software. New functionality is essential to the survival of any software company so they are incented to make the experience of being an early adopter a positive experience. The nuance is how to balance the normal kinks and bugs found in new software releases. If you determine that the upside to proceeding with an early adoption exceeds the downside, below are some suggestions as to how minimize the risk.
Know where the new software really is in terms of development
When we are asked for our opinion on the quality of any software one of our clients is considering, the first place we point them to is our client base that is also using it to ensure the prospective client gains the most objective view. With new software this may not be possible, so a genuinely transparent conversation needs to occur between the software vendor and the client. Where exactly is the development of the software? Is there functionality to test or are there just a series of templates? And is the software in alpha or beta stage or are there other early adopter clients you can speak with to gauge their progress? Knowing exactly where the new functionality is will allow you to better accurately assess the risk you are taking to better contrast with the reward.
Minimize the exposure to mission critical areas
Even with proven software, one of the project goals Logan Consulting counsels is to have the implementation and go-live be as transparent as possible to both our clients customer base and its users. And even with proven software functionality, there are times when there are customer facing issues or user issues that arise when the go live happens. These risks increase significantly with new software functionality. As stated earlier, while there may be upside to being an early adopter, it is just as important to minimize the downside. Among the ways our clients have done so is by implementing the new software in a greenfield environment, limiting the new functionality scope to non-mission critical areas or to a limited number of users.
Make sure the organization understands the risk of any new technology and what went into your risk assessment
Even in the best of situations, there are always kinks and bugs that need to be worked out with new functionality. It is important that expectations are properly set throughout any department or areas that can potentially be impacted while working through these issues. The feedback we’ve had from our clients has been that except in the most extreme situations, organizations tend to be very understanding of any hiccups as long as they were involved in the risk/reward analysis.
If the Hippocratic oath for physicians is often summarized as, “first do no harm” , then a CIO oath for early software adoption could be, “First, make sure you are doing your company some good.