Why Implementation Support Is Key for Successful Tech Adoption

The days of choosing whether to engage technology solutions for your business are long gone. If you don’t keep up with your clientele’s 21st-century expectations, they may seek services from your more tech-forward competitors.

You could be left behind or, worst case, join the 50% of small businesses that fail within the first five years.

Not only should you want to stay in the business tech race, but there’s something to be said for being at the front of the pack. Research by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) shows that digital leaders achieve 1.8 times higher growth than digital laggards.

If adopting innovative tech — and doing so as soon as possible — is a must, why not do it the right way?

The secret to achieving a substantial ROI for new software is to invest in solid implementation guided by experts.

Let’s dive in to:

• The roadblocks businesses typically encounter when deploying a new tech solution
• How a relationship with implementation experts can lower costs and speed up returns
• What a smooth software implementation process should look like
• Why an end-to-end solution enables seamless onboarding and training

Typical Challenges for Businesses Adopting New Technology

Having the ambition to move your business forward with the help of technology is feasible, but the pragmatics can be intimidating.

While a Deloitte study showed that 70% of small businesses plan to increase their use of digital tools, BCG reports that just 30% are successful in achieving sustainable change when implementing new technology.

There are several common reasons business leaders run into difficulties with the details.

1. Lack of Relevant Digital Skills

It may be tough to fathom how today’s workforce, comprised of people who carry tiny computers around in their pockets, could come up short on digital skills. However, according to McKinsey research, 87% of companies already have a digital skills gap — or will within a few years. It can be scary to commit to a new platform when you don’t have complete confidence that your employees will be able to reap its full value.

2. Shortage of People with Experience in Broad Organizational Change

If you choose the right platform, it will profoundly impact your business processes — and your team has to be ready for that. While you may have assembled a great group of leaders, they could be inexperienced in responding to and managing fundamental changes to your company’s workflow, project management, team responsibilities and client interactions.

3. Inadequate Resources To Support the Implementation Period

Many decision makers worry about bearing the load of software implementation internally. Allocating your precious resources, especially your employees’ time and energy, to tech adoption can temporarily reduce their effectiveness in other areas — and, subsequently, your revenue.

Similarly, creating a new position isn’t realistic for most small businesses. The average annual salary of an implementation specialist is $76,389. Outsourcing to a specialized tech consultant can get prohibitively expensive, too.

4. Employee Pushback

Your team may have had frustrating experiences with previous employers’ technology choices, or they could be worried that they might not be tech-savvy enough to adapt to a new system. Especially if you’ve already established a trusting and transparent workplace culture, it can be risky to require that your team jump on board with a sweeping change that will shake up their daily responsibilities. 

Despite these potential hurdles, leaders like you are pushing forward into digital spaces now more than ever. In 2020, the world experienced what McKinsey deemed “the quickening.” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella noted that his company had experienced two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months. Two years later, small businesses are still trying to catch up and keep up.

Luckily, there is a way around the forces that might be working against your rapid software adoption goals: Use the implementation team that’s already trained on the system you’re adopting.

Instead of spending exorbitant amounts of time and money trying to adapt your internal operations to the software you’ve chosen, it’s much simpler to utilize the team that already knows that platform inside and out.

READ NEXT: 4 Reasons You Might Resist Software Implementation Help — And Why You Shouldn’t

Advantages of Using Software Implementation Services

While implementation and training services often require an additional investment, it’s far less than the money your business could bleed trying to get by without them in this über-competitive climate.

Allowing the experts to handle implementation is wise because it:

• Sets up your system correctly from the start
• Minimizes the risk of costly mistakes
• Keeps your platform usage scope appropriate
• Gives your entire team (even non-tech-savvy employees) a baseline skillset
• Opens up time and resources to adapt the platform to your workflow 

How To Get Business Tech Adoption Right

Even with a professional implementation team’s guidance, there are ways to prepare your business for a smooth software adoption process.

• Attach to a clear vision and goals: When you’re buried in the minutiae of learning to use a new platform, it’s easy to lose sight of why you started looking for something new. Beneath the core functionalities you wanted, what were you trying to achieve with this new tech? Greater productivity? Measurable time savings? Better relationships with clients? Stay focused on your initial “why” and communicate this to the external implementation experts. 
• Dedicate time to defining a workflow: Knowing your existing processes inside and out can speed up implementation steps and help a team like Accelo’s understand what you need the software to do. A platform designed for professional services businesses should optimize your existing workflow.
• Select internal point people: To avoid confusion, it’s always best to have one or two people on your team as liaisons, connecting with the platform experts and providing any requested data. While it’s helpful to choose tech-savvy employees, it’s most important that they be quick and efficient communicators.
• Onboard your entire team, including leaders: Everyone in your organization needs to have a working knowledge of the new technology, whether they’re using it day-to-day or only occasionally. Those in leadership will better understand the value of your organization’s investment when they see what it’s capable of. 

Choosing new tech isn’t just about helping your team learn how to click around in a new system. Instead, you should aim for true digital transformation.

READ NEXT: Painless Software Implementation: An Accelo Adoption Story

An End-to-End Platform Makes New Tech Easier for Your Team

Everything about implementation is easier when you don’t have to do it over and over. The fewer rounds of software implementation your team has to go through, the lower the risks and the greater the rewards.

Choosing one platform that’s built to help you manage your client work — from the moment you start speaking to a new prospect through the moment they pay an invoice (and beyond) — offers clear advantages. 

You’ll reduce the amount of time your team spends learning new systems and escape the pressure to pay a dedicated implementation specialist to manage multiple platforms.

Schedule a demo of Accelo to get a taste of what it’s like to use a packaged solution with total implementation support.

About the Author

Chelsea Williams is Senior Copywriter at Accelo, where she shares unique insights with service professionals and tells user stories via blogs, eBooks, industry reports and more. She has over 15 years of B2B and B2C writing experience — primarily in tech, sales, education and healthcare. Chelsea is an AWAI-certified Master Copywriter trained in brand storytelling and microcopy.