Implementing Tools and Processes: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

-Decision Lens is the first software company I have ever worked for.

I spent the vast majority of my career before Decision Lens working in various parts of the Department of Defense (DOD). Most of the organizations I worked for desperately needed a solution like Decision Lens (and I’m not just saying that now that I work here).

Now, as a Director of Customer Success, I often wonder how I would have felt had someone brought in a software solution for my team and me to use in my DOD career. Would I have accepted it right away? Would I have been resistant because I was used to doing things the way they had “always been done.” Who knows?

What I know now, though, is no matter how amazing the solution is, what really takes a software solution to the next level is how it is implemented. Anyone can hand you software to install, but without an effective implementation process, the end-user will most likely never obtain the complete value.

At Decision Lens, our Customer Success team has completed implementation after implementation. We are an elite team with the number one goal of ensuring that our customers see value day after day with Decision Lens. And that starts with implementation.

We’ve all been doing this for a long time, and sure, there have been some bumps and bruises along the way. But we’ve used each of those experiences to teach us lessons and develop best practices. Even now we are continually maturing and refining our approach after every implementation.

Each implementation is unique. We work with different organizations, different people, different sizes of groups, different use cases, different networks. Though each case is different, we have learned that there are several key characteristics that give almost any implementation a great chance at being successful.

So, here they are –in all their glory! 

8 Characteristics Of Highly Effective Software Implementation

1. Well-defined, repeatable, and continuous process with key milestones
2. Direction and re-enforcement from an engaged Executive Sponsor
3. Empowered Client Champion/Project Manager
4. Clearly defined objectives within a manageable timeline and scope
5. Core team of 3-7 super users with defined roles and decision-making authority
6. Key input data that is clean, available, and valid
7. Ability and willingness to integrate data and leverage it during process
8. Cultural openness for change -efficiency, transparency & collaboration
   
   

If you’re a customer, you’ve seen us put these in action. If you’re not yet a customer, and want to be, let our Customer Success Team come and work their magic!