The main setback when implementing staff scheduling software is adoption, the lack of it.
To make sure your scheduling software overcomes this handle and gets adopted, you first of all need to have a budget and a strategy for engaging employees, marketing the software, and measuring its success.
In an attempt to get your software embraced by your staff, mistakes will invariably crop up. Below are seven mistakes you are likely to make when adopting a staff scheduling software.
1. Failure to Name an Adoption Phase Sponsor
For your staff scheduling software to stand any chance of adoption, there must be a focal person who coordinates all matters adoption. He or she is known as an adoption phase sponsor. This is a high-level person, preferably a top-notch shareholder. His or her role is to leverage the support of HR, protect the adoption budget, and recruit software champions. He also ensures objectives are aligned with the laid down metrics. However, his or her most critical role is to ensure ownership and support from the highest decision-making level throughout the organization to remove potential adoption roadblocks.
2. The Absence of an Adoption Plan
When developing a scheduling software, the most important part is the adoption phase. In fact, the implementation phase is not as important as the adoption phase. This is because staff and clients may decide to shun the software and instead continue with the existing software infrastructure. It is therefore important to come up with an adoption plan that indicates how you intend to increase software usage, and how you will measure the success or failure of the adoption. You need to devise a plan that ensures the adoption succeeds.
3. Insufficient Budget
Lack of a sufficient adoption budget can blow your staff scheduling software out of the water. After coming up with a software that promises to be the cure-all for all your operational hitches, if you don’t have an adoption budget, you are very likely headed into failure territory. As you implement your software, make sure you have enough budget set aside for the adoption phase.
4. Thinking Employee Training Is Adequate
While it is important to train all employees who will be using the staff scheduling software, training alone is not enough. Instead, during the training, identify employees who are enthusiastic about the new software and label them scheduling software champions. You will use them later to raise awareness in the entire organization. Encourage all employees to share the software with their colleagues.
5. Delaying the Adoption Phase
While you may not want to release your scheduling software until its perfect, it is better to release it as a minimum viable product (MVP). The beta version gives employees a chance to provide valuable feedback to help improve later versions. The feedback of the scheduling software champions is especially important since they are excited about the new software.
6. Failure to Promote the Scheduling Software across All of Your Marketing Outlets
It does not make sense to spend a fortune developing a staff scheduling software that no one is going to use because they don’t know it exists in the first place. To avoid such a scenario, it is important to market it across your channels. Let all the stakeholders know the scheduling software is available to use. You can use a combination of marketing channels such as social media, email marketing, websites, and mobile apps to broadcast its release. Alert your marketing department ahead of time so they can prepare marketing content tailored to the different channels.
7. Failing to Track Adoption Metrics
Make sure your statement “everyone is using the new software,” is supported by solid, cold, hard facts. Analyze and measure the adoption of the scheduling software to establish the level of success across the organization. If the level of usage does not meet the objectives set out earlier, perhaps additional training and software promotion is required.
