How to Best Train and Prepare Employees for Software Migration

Change is part of life in the business world. Increased competition in every industry, combined with the still slow recovery from the recession, drives companies to always look to stay ahead of the game. One such change is when a business decides to switch their CRM, ERP or any other type of enterprise software to a new version or to alternative software entirely. Yet migrating to a new enterprise software is highly challenging, in particular the fear that the change will, in the short-term, result in lowering of employee productivity and business efficiency. It will not only cost a lot of time and money, but also have severe impact on the reputation and revenue of the organization. Thus, it is very important to develop a sound training and employee performance support strategy in order to smooth the software migration process. It is always better to adopt a strategic approach to software migration and training. An organization needs to utilize its most valuable resources: Employees. A business can significantly reduce the workload on various software and applications by making smart decisions to minimize the potential burden for both employees and managers.  Here are a series of steps to develop an effective training strategy in handling the challenges related to software migration. Choosing the Right Team Members to Become Leaders Without having self-sufficient team, it can be difficult to achieve your business goals. Thus, it is also important to identify end-users within every department who are highly-qualified and available to be elevated to an expert level. This can be done by listing departments within an organization by location. It is always better to choose people who are easily approachable, friendly and communicate properly with co-workers and superiors. Providing Necessary Training Almost every business organization is advised to implement measures to develop the proficiency and skills of their employees. Proficiency measures and skills-gap training should be provided to certify particular end-users. An organization can use a blended approach of one-day instructor-led classroom session and self-paced study to prepare team members to pass the certification exam. During software migration, certification will tell executives that managers and employees are ready to migrate from one platform to another. Motivation and Encouragement Although most of the members in an employee-led support team are already quite motivated to migrate from one platform to another, it is still important to give them recognition for helping coworkers. Thus, executives need to provide lucrative incentives to employees. These may include movie tickets, dinner vouchers, sporting event passes or even some time off work. Or at simply mean providing vocal praise, such as “great work, highly appreciated.” The basic concept is to make employees feel more valued for all their efforts. This will encourage them to continue performing well. Performance Support with WalkMe WalkMe is one technology which can alleviate software migration challenges. In a way, this technology works similar to GPS, by providing step-by-step guidance onscreen to assist employees in performing any task, whether simple or complex. WalkMe is very beneficial for both employees and in some situations customer as well. For example, when customer service representatives have the benefit of WalkMe to provide just-in-time support while handling support requests, they are able perform their necessary actions seamlessly and quickly, shortening the length of the interaction and raising the chance of success. Alternatively, if a sales team is being acclimated with a complex CRM software such as Salesforce, WalkMe helps to provide as-they-work assistance to ensure continued productivity and accuracy.  There is a reduced need for helpdesk requests, and managers should be able to see a lower level of errors that they may have initially feared during the migration period. Improve employee performance and training them on a new platform is a substantial investment. It can provide some good returns and even increase productivity and performance. Well-trained employees even lay the foundation for a functioning organization. According to recent studies, employees who have been trained and certified on different software are 30% more productive than their colleagues. They also have greater credibility among their co-workers in the organization. It is not long before such employees become a valued resource for the whole business. When organizations invest in talents and certify employees, it gives them a chance to increase employee knowledge in a very cost-effective manner.