Effective change management with digital adoption is not a one-and-done process. Three very necessary components must be present in order for change management to be successful.
1. Prepare Employees for Change
Preparing employees for a digital transformation is all about offering them information and making sure they are involved in what is to come. Many transformation initiatives skimp when it comes to this necessary part of change management. But in doing so, they isolate employees and make them feel as if they are being forced into change without prior knowledge. To be successful in the end, providing a clear explanation of why the change is needed for the company is ever-important. Likewise, you should be explaining how a new solution will change how employees perform their daily work processes.
2. Equip Employees with Tools They Need to Make the Change
Equipping your employees for change means handing them the tools and knowledge they need to proceed and succeed as the new digital solution is implemented. Training here is the key, which is why a good digital adoption software solution like Epilogue Opus can be so valuable. Digital Adoption Solutions like Opus allow you to:
- Generate content that can be leveraged into training and eLearning
- Create a variety of online and offline content to meet the needs of users and teams: user acceptance test scripts, user manuals, job aids, process and procedure documents, compliance documentation, Section 508 documentation and simulations for viewing, practicing or testing
- Optimize in-application support for the user, at their moment of need, with step by step task execution assistance
Generating these outputs in the volume needed by large application projects has been a major challenge for L&D, Training, IT and Change Management teams. There’s too many processes and not enough people or time to document what’s needed. That’s why the right Digital Adoption Solution should be easy to use so the pool of content creators can expand to include Subject Matter Experts (i.e., HR, Accounting, Purchasing, Distribution, Sales, etc.). And the Digital Adoption Solution should be fast to use so content creators don’t spend a day or more per process, which also becomes a deterrent to generating the needed content.
By implementing an effective digital adoption strategy focused on the needs of your users, employees are less likely to feel completely overwhelmed when new software or a new digital solution goes live.
3. Support Employees Through the Change Ma
Every individual can perceive a big change differently. You may have some employees that jump right in, show little resistance, and seem excited to learn. You may also have some employees that feel annoyed with change or seem uninterested in doing things differently. In any case, the third necessary component in change management is to support every employee right where they are, no matter what mindset they have.
While most aspects of change management are macro, you also have to get micro at key points in time. In terms of onboarding and adoption, a tool like Epilogue Opus brings the “micro” needed when the workforce is engaged with the new or updated system. It does this by bringing task-specific and role-specific help and guidance for the specific task an employee is trying to execute. This is important because employee engagement and patience with Support, knowledge bases, help portals and searching for the help they need diminishes with each experience. Opus gives the user the relevant help and guidance needed to execute application tasks without having to leave the application they are working in.
