Apr 19, 2024
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Timing: The Key to a Successful Agency Software Search
Timing. It’s fundamental to everything from nature’s rhythms to important conversations to creative work. As such, it plays a crucial role in your agency’s software selection process.
Just as a well-timed work session can produce your most compelling campaigns, aligning your software search with the ideal timeline can set your team up for successful software adoption.
The Target Mile Marker: Your Go-Live Date
Begin with the end in mind. Determine when you want your new software fully up and running. This is your go-live date: the day you aim to start using the software daily.
It’s wise to avoid matching this date up with an important launch, the start of a fiscal year, your busy season or any significant pivot points in your agency operations.
From Finish to Start
Once you’ve earmarked your go-live date, reverse engineer the steps to get there.
- Training and onboarding: Set aside a minimum of eight to ten weeks (or more for complex software) for training your team. This period should cover feature exploration, hands-on practice and troubleshooting initial issues.
- Migration and setup: Depending on the software’s complexity, integrating it into your current ecosystem can take anywhere from one to four weeks. This time includes data migration, settings configuration and potential customization.
- Trial and decision-making: Most software solutions offer a trial period of seven to 30 days. Use this time effectively to test the fit for your agency. After the trial, allow a week for stakeholder discussions, feedback collection and final decisions.
- Research and vetting: This is the heart of your software journey. Allocate one to two months for this phase. Research potential options, read reviews, seek recommendations, attend demos and thoroughly vet each possibility.
Our buyer’s guide can help you compress the research and vetting stage. Get your free copy!
Total up the time you’ll need for all of the above phases to determine when you should get serious about your search. Don’t forget! Allow a bit of extra time as a safety net and to leave space for an unexpectedly packed workload.
Benefits of Perfect Timing
A well-timed software switch minimizes disruptions and allows your team to deeply engage in the training and adaptation period. They’ll be mentally and logistically ready. And because you’re giving them ample time to learn the new platform, there’s likely to be positive sentiment around the change.
It’s also best to time things well for organizational purposes — otherwise, you risk confusion or losing important information. A well-thought-out software adoption can become a functional digital transformation.
Your investment is also a significant consideration when it comes to time. If you think about the long-term plan from the start, you won’t struggle because of budgetary cycles or constraints.
Want to expand your software search prep? Sales Manager Lissie Peach and I recently had a conversation about vetting software for agencies, in which we chatted about timing and walked through each step of the process. Soak up even more information to prepare your agency by accessing our on-demand webinar.
➡️ Catch up on the other webinars in our agency series, too:
- Agency Profitability: From Mystery to Certainty
- How To Know if Your Agency Is Using Too Many Tech Tools
- The Profit Routine: Ensuring Earnings With Every Move
About the Author
Whitney Luke is Director of Solutions Consulting at Accelo, where she and her team help prospective customers identify and solve challenges in managing their client work. In over three years at Accelo, Whitney has onboarded several hundred clients. Her favorite part of the job is getting to know talented business leaders and seeing the huge impact Accelo can have on efficiency and profitability.