How to Implement New Technology: 10 Best Practices
- Published:
- Updated: October 25, 2024
Amid relentless technological evolution, maintaining a competitive edge requires more than keeping pace with digital transformation.
It necessitates strategically integrating new workplace applications within your organization. Projections indicate that global spending on digital transformation is forecast to surpass $2.8 trillion by 2025.
Yet implementing new technology in the workplace can be challenging and is often met with internal resistance and user-related obstacles. Achieving value from new third-party software investments and internally built apps requires software implementation plans that provide seamless technical integration and enable end-users with IT user training that drives user adoption.
In this article, we explore how to create a technical implementation plan for workplace, from assessing your current technological needs to providing ongoing user support for employees.
Each step is designed to help organizations navigate the intricacies of technological change and achieve their business objectives. By adhering to these guidelines, organizations can minimize disruptions, improve efficiency, and cultivate a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.
We’ll also discuss how Whatfix DAP empowers organizations to create in-app guided experiences that enable end-users with contextual, interactive learning in the flow of work and support at the moment of need.
10 Steps to Successfully Implement New Technology in the Workplace
Every individual technology implementation will require a contextual plan based on the application type, your IT infrastructure, the impact of the change project, the IT literacy of your employees, and more.
With that said, here are ten foundational steps to successfully implement new technology in the workplace:
1. Assess Your Existing Technology and Workflows
Implementing new technology successfully begins with a deep understanding of your current technological landscape, ensuring that any new investments are targeted and effective.
Start by mapping all the technologies in your organization, including software applications, hardware, and network infrastructure. Engage with all departments to gather insights into how these technologies are used daily. Surveys, interviews, and observational studies can provide comprehensive data on your technological environment.
Once you have a clear picture of your current tech stack, you can conduct a technology needs assessment to identify gaps in your technology infrastructure or areas that require legacy application modernization for outdated software.
The next step is identifying user friction or inefficiencies in your application workflows. Look for bottlenecks that slow down processes, outdated systems that struggle to keep up with demand, and gaps where technology fails to meet user requirements.
Indicators of inefficiencies include frequent system downtime, redundant processes, manual data entry, and team member complaints about specific tools or workflows. For instance, if the finance team’s current expense management workflows lead to a high rate of rejected expense claims, then an issue within your workflow should be addressed.
Finally, analyze how well your current technologies align with your business objectives. Evaluate whether these systems are scalable and capable of supporting future growth. Ensure they provide the requisite features and performance to drive business outcomes effectively.
For example, if your business plans to expand into new markets, your current systems should be robust enough to handle increased demand and facilitate seamless operations.
2. Build a Cross-Functional Change Team
A dedicated cross-functional change advisory board is critical for successfully implementing new technology. This team should include representatives from all the departments in the organization, ensuring diverse perspectives and expertise are brought together to address the different aspects of the implementation process.
To build an effective team, follow these step-by-step guidelines:
- Identify the Right Members: Choose change agents from different functional areas who possess the necessary skills and knowledge for the project. Include members from IT, HR, operations, and other relevant departments. This diversity will help you address various challenges effectively.
- Define Clear Objectives and Roles: Clearly outline the team’s objectives and each member’s roles and responsibilities. This ensures that everyone knows their specific contributions to the project’s success and understands how their roles fit within the broader team dynamic.
- Appoint a Project Manager: Select a project manager to guide the team’s activities, manage timelines, and keep the project on track. The project manager will be a central point of contact and resolve conflicts or obstacles.
- Foster a Collaborative Culture: Promote open communication and collaboration within the team. Encourage team members to share ideas, provide feedback, and work together to solve problems. Regular meetings and updates will help maintain transparency and keep everyone aligned with the project goals.
- Provide Training and Resources: Offer change management training and resources to help team members bridge any knowledge or skills gaps. This support can include cross-training sessions, workshops, or access to relevant tools and materials, ensuring the team is well-prepared to handle the implementation process.
- Empower the Team: Give the cross-functional team the autonomy to make decisions and take ownership of their work. Avoid micromanaging but provide support and resources when necessary. Empowering the team fosters accountability and motivation.
- Celebrate Successes and Learn from Failures: Recognize and celebrate the team’s achievements and milestones. Encourage a culture where the team sees failures as learning opportunities. This approach helps apply valuable lessons to future projects and improves overall performance.
By creating a dedicated cross-functional change leadership team, you leverage a wide range of expertise and perspectives, which enhances the effectiveness of your technology implementation project. This collaborative approach comprehensively addresses potential issues and encourages organizational ownership and commitment.
3. Communicate the Upcoming Implementation to Those Most Impacted
Effective change communication is crucial for successfully implementing new technology in the workplace. As soon as possible, announce the organizational change to your employees and highlight why you are implementing a new software application.
Clearly outline the benefits and potential impacts for everyone involved and explain how the new technology supports and aligns with business objectives. This transparency helps manage expectations and reduce resistance to change.
To achieve this, follow these key strategies:
- Early Communication and Involvement: Start by communicating the upcoming changes to all stakeholders. Use appropriate channels such as meetings, emails, and internal newsletters to ensure the message reaches everyone. Highlight the change’s reasons, benefits, and how it aligns with the organization’s strategic goals. Early communication helps to build trust and sets the stage for a successful implementation project.
- Engage Key Stakeholders: Involve key stakeholders from the outset to gain their buy-in and support. These stakeholders can include department heads, team leaders, and influential employees willing to act as change champions. Engaging these people early helps to identify potential issues and gather valuable feedback that can be addressed before the implementation begins.
- Address Concerns and Provide Support: Anticipate questions and concerns that employees might have regarding the new technology. Provide clear, concise information and be prepared to address any issues. Training sessions, Q&A forums, and support resources can help ease anxiety and ensure employees feel supported throughout the transition.
- Consistent and Ongoing Communication: Maintain regular communication throughout the implementation process. Update employees on progress, key milestones, and any changes to the plan. Consistent communication helps reinforce the benefits of the new technology and keeps everyone aligned with the project’s goals.
Communicating effectively and involving those most impacted by the new technology can facilitate a smoother transition and foster a more supportive and engaged workforce. This approach helps reduce resistance and encourages a culture of openness and collaboration within the organization.
4. Create Sandbox Environments for Beta Testing and User Training
Creating sandbox environments is essential for user acceptance testing, beta testing, and hands-on user training. It ensures users can learn and interact with new technology without risking the stability of the live environment. A sandbox provides a virtual, isolated space that mimics the production environment, allowing safe experimentation and thorough testing.
What are the benefits of creating IT sandbox environments?
- Risk Mitigation: Sandboxes create a dedicated space separate from the main production environment, preventing any tests from affecting production. This isolation ensures that any issues or bugs identified during testing do not impact operational systems, safeguarding business continuity.
- Early Detection of Issues: Running tests in a sandbox allows for the early identification and resolution of potential issues. This proactive approach helps minimize downtime and ensure smoother deployments, which is critical for maintaining the trust of stakeholders and customers.
- Enhanced Security: Sandboxes provide a controlled environment to test the security of new technologies, simulating cyberattacks to identify vulnerabilities. This helps strengthen the organization’s overall security posture by addressing potential threats before they can impact the live environment.
- Data Privacy and Compliance: Using sandboxes, organizations can ensure that sensitive data remains protected during testing. This is particularly important for industries that handle confidential information, as it helps maintain compliance with data protection regulations.
- Effective User Training: Sandbox environments like Whatfix’s Mirror tool provide a risk-free platform for users to gain hands-on experience with new systems. This interactive, engaging end-user training ensures that employees are proficient and confident in using the latest technology, leading to higher productivity and smoother adoption processes.
How to create sandbox IT environments for user training with Whatfix Mirror
With Whatfix Mirror, IT teams can quickly create sandbox IT environments of third-party enterprise software applications like CRMs, ERPs, HCMs, and more to provide hands-on user training to reduce the impact of a new software implementation and during new employee onboarding to help drive fast learning and reduce time-to-productivity.
Mirror enables users to learn process workflows and gain expertise without the risks associated with learning on a live application. It simplifies the creation of training instances through automatic screen capturing and linking, ensuring that any changes to production are updated in the sandbox in real-time.
Improve data security with Mirror’s easy redaction and replacement of sensitive information features. Users can access these training environments via simple web links, or administrators can integrate them into the organization’s learning management system (LMS). This access helps accelerate user proficiency, improve productivity, and significantly reduce the costs and complexities of maintaining traditional training instances.
By leveraging Whatfix Mirror, you can ensure a smoother transition to new technology, improve user training, and reduce the costs associated with traditional hands-on training methods. This approach mitigates risks and accelerates the adoption and effective use of new systems within the organization, supporting the overarching goals of business agility, security, and efficiency.
5. Support Employees With In-App Guidance in the Flow of Work
End-user training doesn’t end after your initial software migration and onboarding. Your employees will require continuous learning and support throughout a software’s lifecycle, from support on infrequently done tasks to utilizing new product updates or features.
Providing continuous support to employees post-launch maximizes productivity and ensures successful technology adoption.
With a digital adoption platform (DAP) like Whatfix, organizations can utilize a no-code editor to create in-app guidance and support experiences for end-users. With Whatfix DAP, integrate Flows, Tours, Task Lists, Self Help, Smart Tips, and more directly into your employees digital tasks, enabling them to learn in the flow of work.
Whatfix DAP empowers users by delivering real-time, contextual support tailored to their tasks and needs. It ensures users can navigate new systems confidently, reduces the friction often associated with change, and boosts overall productivity. By embedding support directly into the workflow, organizations can ensure that users receive timely assistance and guidance precisely when needed.
How to enable users with Whatfix DAP
There are countless use cases for enabling end-users with Whatfix DAP’s in-app guidance. Here are a few of the most common use cases:
- Role-based, guided user onboarding: Effective onboarding is critical to enabling employees and driving technology adoption. Whatfix DAP enables users with in-app Flows, Tours, and Task Lists contextual to different roles and user types to help them quickly become proficient with new systems. This reduces the learning curve and minimizes operational disruptions, ensuring a smoother transition to the latest functionality.
- In-App Task Lists and Notifications: Providing clear, structured guidance through in-app task lists ensures users understand and complete critical processes. Moreover, Whatfix DAP uses pop-ups and overlays to push important announcements, informing users about new features and changes.
- In-App Guidance on Complex Processes: Whatfix overlays applications with in-app guidance to provide employees with a way to learn in the flow of work. This drives process governance and improves the value realized from software investments. It also supports employees on more advanced or infrequently done tasks.
- In-App Self-Help: Whatfix provides end-users with Self Help, an in-app support center that integrates with an organization’s knowledge repositories, LMS, training documentation, and more. Employees can search Self Help for any contextual issue they’re facing, and Self Help can provide AI-generated responses based on your company’s knowledge and documentation.
- Real-Time Feedback and Surveys: Whatfix captures user feedback through real-time in-app surveys, allowing immediate adjustments and improvements. This feedback loop ensures the technology meets user requirements and increases overall employee satisfaction.
- Contextual Smart Tips and Beacons: Whatfix uses beacons to notify users of new features and changes within an application. It also provides contextual smart tips on elements requiring additional information, ensuring users have the necessary information at their fingertips.
- Guidance Analytics: Understand how your end-users consume and engage your in-app guidance and support experiences with Whatfix Guidance Analytics. Analyze how many users completed their new user Task List, what users are failing to properly use new tools, and what the most common Self Help searches are.
By leveraging Whatfix DAP, organizations can provide the necessary support for employees post-launch, directly integrating learning and assistance into their flow of work.
This approach improves user proficiency and satisfaction and creates a more supportive and productive work environment. Integrating support into the flow of work increases engagement, boosts productivity, and reduces disruptions, making it an essential component of successful digital adoption.
6. Analyze User Behavior to Identify Areas of Friction in Your Journeys
Understanding how users interact with new technology is essential for improving adoption rates and overall efficiency. By leveraging data-driven insights, organizations can identify and address areas of friction within user journeys.
Whatfix Product Analytics offers robust end-user monitoring and analytics to support these efforts, enabling a deeper understanding of user behavior and facilitating data-driven decision-making to improve software workflows and UX.
When deploying new technology, organizations often need help with challenges such as resistance to change, high drop-off rates, and low user engagement. To overcome these barriers, understanding user journeys comprehensively and identifying where users encounter difficulties is imperative.
Whatfix Product Analytics provides valuable insights into how users engage with software. By analyzing user journeys, application owners can see users’ paths to achieve their goals and understand how they interact with the application. This detailed analysis helps identify areas of friction where users struggle or drop off, allowing for targeted improvements.
How to use user behavior and product usage data to improve user adoption with Whatfix Product Analytics
Here are several strategies for data-driven user behavior analysis with Whatfix Product Analytics, including:
- Identify and Address Friction Points: Use Funnels to pinpoint where users are experiencing challenges within an application. For example, if users frequently drop off at a particular step in a workflow, this indicates a friction point that needs attention. By understanding these pain points, you can implement changes to streamline the user experience and reduce drop-off rates.
- Monitor Feature Adoption and Process Changes: Track how new features and changes are adopted over time. This ongoing analysis helps ensure that updates are effectively integrated into user workflows and that any necessary adjustments are made promptly. For instance, tracking user engagement with a new CRM feature allows you to determine its effectiveness and make iterative improvements based on real-time data.
- Customizable, No-Code Platform: Whatfix’s analytics platform is highly customizable and requires no coding. It makes it accessible to all team members, allowing quick deployment and immediate benefits from data-driven insights. By setting up custom user actions, you can gather detailed information about how specific features are used, allowing for precise optimization.
- Map User Flows: Visualize users’ paths through the application to identify common routes and problematic areas. Mapping user flows helps understand the user journey and pinpoint where users encounter difficulties.
- Optimize Workflows: Based on insights from user behavior analysis, make necessary adjustments to streamline processes, simplify steps, or provide additional training and support. This ensures that the application remains user-friendly and meets user requirements.
How to take a data-driven approach to continuous application improvement
Digital adoption is an ongoing process. Regularly analyze user behavior, collect feedback, and refine in-app guidance to continuously enhance user experience and adoption rates.
This iterative approach ensures the technology remains aligned with user needs and organizational goals. For instance, by constantly monitoring user feedback through in-app surveys, you can identify areas for improvement and implement changes swiftly to address user concerns.
By integrating Whatfix Analytics, organizations can create a seamless user experience, driving higher engagement and adoption rates. This strategic use of data improves individual user satisfaction and supports broader business objectives by maximizing the value derived from new technology implementations.
7. Showcase Early Wins and Highlight the Success of Early Adopters
Creating momentum and fostering a positive attitude toward new technology implementation is crucial. Showcasing early wins and highlighting the success of early adopters can significantly influence broader adoption within the organization.
Highlighting these early successes helps build trust in the new technology, demonstrating its tangible benefits and reducing resistance among other employees.
Here are several strategies you can use to drive technology adoption by showcasing quick wins and highlighting how early adopters are using new applications to extract value, improve productivity, and achieve goals:
- Identify Key Early Adopters: Recognize individuals or teams who quickly adapt to and successfully use the new technology. These early adopters often provide critical feedback, validate the technology’s benefits, and serve as champions within the organization. Their experiences can be used to inspire and motivate others.
- Document and Communicate Early Successes: Collect data and stories illustrating the new technology’s tangible benefits. This might include increased productivity, cost savings, improved workflows, or enhanced user satisfaction. Sharing these success stories through various channels, such as internal newsletters, meetings, or social media, can build credibility and trust.
- Create Channels to Showcase Success: Develop a dedicated space, such as a testimonial page on your intranet, to feature the achievements of early adopters. Use diverse formats, including written testimonials, video interviews, and detailed case studies, to highlight their experiences and the positive impact of the technology.
- Leverage Feedback for Continuous Improvement: Engage early adopters in providing change feedback and suggestions for improvement. This feedback loop helps refine the technology and demonstrates a commitment to continuous improvement and user satisfaction.
- Promote Through Internal Campaigns: Use internal communication campaigns to celebrate the achievements of early adopters. Highlight their successes in company-wide emails, town hall meetings, and internal social media platforms. This recognition can encourage others to engage with the new technology.
- Offer Incentives and Recognition: Providing incentives for early adopters, such as recognition awards, professional development opportunities, or small rewards, can motivate others to follow suit. Publicly recognizing their efforts reinforces a culture of innovation and adaptability.
By effectively showcasing early wins and highlighting the success of early adopters, organizations can drive greater engagement, build trust, and accelerate the adoption of new technology. This strategic approach highlights the technology’s practical benefits and fosters a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.
8. Collect Feedback from Employees Post-Implementation
After implementing new technology, collecting end-user feedback from employees is essential for its continued success. This process helps identify issues and refine the technology to meet user requirements and organizational goals. In-app surveys effectively collect real-time feedback, providing valuable insights into user experiences and satisfaction.
How to collect end-user feedback with Whatfix DAP
Whatfix DAP also empowers IT and L&D teams with tools to create, launch, and manage in-app surveys, which allows organizations to:
- Collect Immediate Feedback: In-app surveys collect real-time feedback, allowing you to identify and resolve promptly. This immediate insight helps organizations quickly address concerns or areas for improvement, resulting in increased user satisfaction and ensuring effective problem-solving.
- Take a Data-Driven Approach to Improvements: Gathering direct responses from users can help you understand the reasons behind the data and make informed decisions about necessary changes and improvements. Whatfix Analytics improves this process by providing detailed insights into user interactions and pain points.
- Improve UX: Regularly collect and act on feedback to improve the overall user experience, making the technology more intuitive and effective for your users. Whatfix’s integration capabilities ensure seamless feedback collection without disrupting the user’s flow of work.
Best practices for in-app feedback surveys with Whatfix
- Keep Surveys Short and Focused: Users are more likely to complete short, targeted surveys with specific questions. Whatfix’s customizable survey templates make creating concise and relevant surveys easy.
- Trigger Surveys Contextually: Deploy surveys at strategic points in the user journey to capture relevant feedback. For example, you can time survey prompts to appear after a user completes a significant task or encounters an issue. This contextual triggering makes sure the feedback is relevant and timely.
- Use a Mix of Question Types: Incorporate quantitative and qualitative questions to gather comprehensive insights. This might include rating scales for satisfaction levels and open-ended questions for detailed feedback.
- Ensure Data Privacy: Use features like data redaction to protect sensitive information. Ensuring privacy encourages users to provide honest feedback.
- Analyze and Act on Feedback: Use Whatfix Survey analytics to understand user responses and make data-driven improvements. Regularly reviewing and acting on feedback ensures the technology evolves to meet user requirements.
How to use end-user feedback to build better technology experiences
- Analyze Feedback Data: Process and interpret the feedback data using Whatfix Analytics. This analysis helps identify common themes, recurring issues, and potential areas for enhancement.
- Implement Changes: Based on the feedback, make necessary adjustments to the technology. This could involve refining features, fixing bugs, or improving the user interface.
- Communicate Changes: Keep employees informed about the changes made in response to their feedback. This transparency builds trust and encourages continued engagement with the feedback process.
- An Iterative, Continuous Approach: Using Whatfix’s in-app surveys, you can continuously gather valuable user feedback, leading to ongoing improvements and higher adoption rates. This iterative approach supports business agility and efficiency, ensuring the technology remains aligned with both user requirements and organizational objectives.
9. Monitor Adoption Across Teams and Create New In-App Guidance Based on Usage Trends
Monitoring the adoption of new technology across teams is crucial for understanding how well the technology is being integrated and identifying areas that may need additional support. By leveraging analytics and user feedback, organizations can create new in-app guidance to address specific needs and improve adoption rates.
Tracking the usage and adoption of new technology helps identify which teams or individuals are struggling and may need extra support. This proactive approach ensures that no one is left behind and everyone can effectively use the new technology.
How to analyze end-user behavior and application usage with Whatfix Product Analytics
Whatfix Analytics provides a powerful tool for monitoring adoption. Organizations can track user interactions, map user flows, and identify friction points by creating custom user actions. This data-driven approach allows for optimizing workflows and creating targeted in-app guidance to address specific challenges.
With Whatfix DAP and Product Analytics, you can:
- Set Up Custom User Actions: Define specific user actions to track within the application to gain insights into how users interact with the new technology. This helps identify areas where users may be encountering difficulties.
- Create User Cohorts: Use Whatfix Analytics to create different cohorts of users based on various parameters such as department, role, or geographic location. This segmentation helps understand the specific requirements and challenges different groups face.
- Compare User Cohorts: Compare these cohorts to see which groups are adopting the new technology more effectively and which ones may need additional support. For instance, you can identify if a particular department faces more challenges than others and tailor the in-app guidance accordingly.
- Create New In-App Guidance: Based on the insights gained, develop new in-app guidance to help users navigate the technology more effectively, including step-by-step tutorials, contextual help tips, and interactive walkthroughs.
- Regularly Review Usage Trends: Monitor usage trends and adjust the in-app guidance to ensure it remains relevant and practical.
By continuously monitoring adoption and utilizing tools like Whatfix Analytics, organizations can ensure that the new technology is effectively integrated across all teams. This approach improves user proficiency and supports broader business objectives by maximizing the value derived from the technology implementation.
10. Enable Users Through Future Updates with In-App Communication and Guidance
Keeping users informed and engaged with ongoing updates is key to maintaining high technology adoption and proficiency levels. By leveraging Whatfix’s capabilities, organizations can seamlessly communicate new features, updates, and advanced functionalities directly within the application.
Keep users updated with in-app communication with Whatfix DAP
Using Whatfix, you can create in-app pop-ups and alerts to drive awareness of new features and updates. This approach ensures that users receive timely information without searching for it, improving the user experience.
Deploy pop-ups and alerts to inform users about significant changes, new features, and important announcements. This real-time communication helps keep users informed and reduces the learning curve associated with updates.
Provide in-app guided learning in the flow of work
Provide guided learning experiences to help users understand and adapt to new features and functionalities. For instance:
- Guided Flows: Create step-by-step interactive guides that lead users through new processes and features. This hands-on approach ensures users can quickly grasp and apply new functionality without confusion.
- Contextual Help and Smart Tips: Offer contextual tips and help sections that provide additional details when users need them. This immediate support reduces frustration and increases the user experience.
- Monitor User Engagement and Feedback: Use Whatfix Analytics to track user engagement with new features and gather feedback. This data-driven approach allows organizations to make informed decisions and continuously improve user experiences.
- Support Continuous Learning: Encourage continuous learning by offering in-app tutorials, quizzes, and refresher courses. This ongoing education ensures users remain proficient and can leverage the full capabilities of the technology.
By leveraging Whatfix’s in-app communication and guidance tools, organizations can ensure users are always informed, supported, and capable of effectively utilizing new features, thus driving continuous improvement and sustained adoption.
Successfully implementing new technology in the workplace requires a comprehensive strategy that addresses every phase of the approach. Organizations can streamline this journey by leveraging tools like Whatfix, ensuring employees have the necessary resources and support to maximize the new technology’s benefits.
- Whatfix Mirror for Hands-On Virtual IT Training: Creating a sandbox environment for beta testing and hands-on training is crucial throughout implementation. Whatfix Mirror allows organizations to develop simulated environments where employees can safely learn and interact with new systems. This approach mitigates risks, improves data security, and increases user proficiency before live deployment.
- Whatfix DAP for In-App Guidance and Self Help Support in the Flow of Work: Once the technology is live, continuous support is essential to ensure long-term adoption and productivity. Whatfix’s DAP (Digital Adoption Platform) provides real-time, contextual guidance that integrates seamlessly into daily workflows. This in-app support reduces the learning curve, addresses user issues promptly, and keeps employees informed about new features and updates through pop-ups and alerts.
- Whatfix Product Analytics to Monitor and Analyze User Behavior and Product Usage: Analyzing user behavior with Whatfix Analytics enables organizations to identify friction points and optimize workflows. By tracking user interactions and creating user cohorts, businesses can tailor in-app guidance to meet specific requirements, ensuring a smoother adoption process across different teams and roles.
By integrating these strategies, organizations can foster a culture of innovation and continuous improvement. Tools like Whatfix facilitate the technical aspects of implementation and support the human side of change, driving technology adoption and maximizing the return on investment.
Businesses can achieve their digital transformation goals through a well-structured approach, enhance operational efficiency, and maintain a competitive edge in today’s fast-paced, dynamic business environment.
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