Facing Fear to Implement the Right Software for Your Organization
By James Thumma, VP of Sales and Marketing, Optical Image Technology, Inc.
(Note: This article was originally published in the March 2006 edition of Document eNotes)
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The biggest hindrance to implementing a new technology doesn’t lie in the bells and whistles the technology has or doesn’t have; it lies in the fear of change. The fact that companies aren’t doing more with technologies like document management has more to do with people than it does with the technology’s limitations or cost.
Too often, when organizations are selecting technologies and vendors, they ask good questions, but not the number one question: “What’s stopping us?” A typical team that has been tasked with selecting new software will ask a million technical questions, such as: will this integrate with our legacy system, is the system proprietary, what does the software run on? Technical questions are important, but chances are extremely minimal that a technical problem will cause a project to fail; it is far more likely that the staff’s fear of change will cause failure. Those technical questions need to be secondary to that critical number one question of what’s stopping you, and after that, your team can move forward.
Fear of change is a very real thing, and if technology isn’t chosen and implemented with that in mind, you’ll never get buy-in from your users, and buy-in is essential for success. You have to select a technology that meets your needs and can improve your operations, but you also need to be prepared for the changes that the technology will bring. New technology is hard to introduce, any project manager can tell you that - but what makes a project successful is having everyone on board.
Just think of all of the changes that implementing a document management system can entail. IT staff may have an increased workload to maintain systems, administrators for the software may have new job duties, users require training and need to leave their familiar paper-based system, and all of these changes will have an impact on other areas. Everyone on staff will have a response to these changes. Some will be open to the changes, and others will view the changes negatively. In order to get buy-in and create a positive outlook, everyone on staff needs to be involved in the process and everyone needs to be able to see the changes from other points of view. Managers need to involve end-users in the decisions, involve management while new users are being trained, and take action that will show each and every person that their opinion matters. If people are involved in the process, it becomes their change, and they are every bit as inclined to make the project a success as the project manager is.
In an industry watch survey from AIIM in 2004 called “Why Enterprise Content Management? Why Now?” 22% of respondents said that the most challenging aspect of information/content management for their organization was planning/managing implementation and change management. That answer was ranked second highest and that’s no surprise! It’s obvious very early-on in the technology selection stage which companies are prepared to implement a new technology, and which companies will let their fear get in the way. The companies that are prepared for change and have plans in place for change management ask all the right questions. They’ve already asked what is stopping them, and they’re ready to take the plunge. Companies that aren’t ready for change are still asking questions in the hopes of finding reasons why they should not move forward with implementation.
And as obvious as this statement is, it stills needs to be said: avoiding change isn’t a way of dealing with it. In a survey done by CIO Insight Magazine in 2004 on emerging technologies, 42% of companies said they won’t adopt technologies if it means changing business processes. While you don’t want to completely overhaul to the way your organization operates, you can’t be completely opposed to changes. Think of it this way: an organization that was firmly opposed to change would be without e-mail, the Internet, and many other modern technologies that have changed and improved the way we do business each day.
To have the greatest chance at success, an organization needs to be open to change from the top down — not only management, but end-users as well. If you could have every employee at your company not only open to the idea of implementing new technology, but enthusiastic and excited about the implementation, imagine how much more successful that project would be! And once an organization is open to change, the designated staff needs to be ready to manage that change. Don’t assume that the change-factor ends when your entire team is motivated and ready to try something new. Being open to it is just the first step. It’s a hard step, but it’s still just the beginning.
When you’re ready to think about implementing a new technology, your first questions shouldn’t be ones of the technical problems that may stand in your way; your first question should be “are you standing in your own way?” Remember, the challenge is not about the technical or financial hurdles you have to overcome to complete a successful project; it’s about overcoming the fear of change and believing in the project.
James Thumma is the VP of Sales and Marketing at Optical Image Technology, Inc. For more information, visit www.docfinity.com.
©2006 Optical Image Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. DocFinity, IntraVIEWER, and XML FormFLOW are trademarks or registered trademarks of Optical Image Technology, Inc.
