The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/21494
WINNING THE ROLLOUT WAR “Before a war, military science seems a real science, like astronomy; but after a war it seems more like astrology.” —Rebecca West S trategizing a software implementation has been likened to planning a military operation. A rollout may employ psychological or guerilla warfare techniques. Or the firm’s culture may be best suited to “shock and awe” tactics. But wars are best won by carefully considering and winning the hearts and minds of all parties involved, long after the heavy artillery has left the field. The same is true with software rollouts. Firms spend months selecting a solution. The IT department devotes many more additional months customizing, integrating and testing the product as well as hours of meetings and discussions with other departments. All of this work could be for naught without a comprehensive training and support strategy that stretches beyond shock and awe, or, in other words, beyond the first weeks of a firmwide implementation. If departments don’t, the details and care that went into preparation and deployment may disintegrate into “astrology” in six months, a year, or two years down the line when the firm discovers that the staff or attorneys either no longer use the software or are not using it to its full potential. As everyone knows (or should know), the days of throwing software at users and crossing fingers that they’ll remember how to open the application are, thankfully, over. Moreover, traditional classes and written support materials alone are proving insufficient to promote software stickiness. Trainers must not only expand their arsenals with innovative tools and ideas to accommodate their users’ varied learning needs, but they must also, if they haven’t already, reinvent their roles in their firms. PLAN OF ATTACK “…future Office upgrades are a priority, with 43% of all respondents planning 2010/2011 implementations.” —2010 ILTA Purchasing Survey Evaluate the technical prowess of those who will actually Siege. Blitzkrieg. Feint. Encirclement. Bait and Bleed. Shock and Awe. Whatever your approach, you must thoroughly map your initial offensive. So, before addressing the long-term health of an application, let’s address laying the foundation for the product deployment using Office upgrades as an example. Many firms are leaping from an MS Office 2003/XP platform to an MS Office 2010/Windows 7 platform. For some, the toolbar to ribbon transition may be tantamount to rolling out a brand new solution. Worse, it can result in phantom limb syndrome use the software on a daily basis. Realistically, trainers are seen as a bridge between IT and the rest of the firm. They are the boots-on-the-ground that can identify staff skill levels through surveys, user need assessments or even casual conversations. Generally, because of the career path of most trainers, they also have an overall perspective of the various practice groups’ needs and workflow. This information is golden and an incredible asset that will augment the rest of the IT team’s understanding of their firm’s practical requirements. Peer to Peer the quarterly magazine of ILTA 75 where users have difficulties letting go of their old software. (“This is Word — Why doesn’t it look like Word?”). Anticipating and managing users’ expectations can ensure the health of the overall rollout. The following tactics will serve to minimize the “shock” and focus on the “awe.” UNDERSTAND THE TIME FRAME Set realistic time frames for accomplishing firm objectives. The goal of most new technology is to improve workflow efficiency. This concept of efficiency must also translate into how software is deployed, transitioned and/or upgraded. Minimizing downtime and any productivity losses associated with software introduction requires that firms, out of the gate, move at lightning speed to lift staff and attorneys up to at least the same high-functioning level prior to the rollout. Using our Microsoft Office example, do not underestimate the time or learning tools necessary to shift the users to this new version of Word. It is not a traditional upgrade where you can simply point out the cool new features and move on. To many users, this will be like reliving the WordPerfect conversion all over again. CONDUCT BOOTS-ON-THE-GROUND SURVEILLANCE “Like any product, military technology is built for a specific audience: the soldier who will use the device. Too often though, the technology fails to consider who that faceless soldier is.” —Raphael Cohen, “10 Problems with Technology,” (Armed Forces Journal, 2009)