Tips In Training Your Staff Members For New Software Updates

Almost anything can now be computerized. From simple calculating tasks, to accounting and CRM and many more. Sometimes your software needs to be updated, and the transition from your old software to a new one can be a daunting experience for staff members.

Before doing any updates on your software, you need to know the right procedures so the update can be implemented correctly in order for a smooth transition. Your staff may not like your idea for a new software, but teaching them is not as difficult as it seems to be.

Software used for business management and accounting has become more user-friendly. With that advantage, you can spend more of your time in one central location, and spend less resources when trying to update.

Related: Strategy for Implementing ERP that Benefits You

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Training Your Staffs

When you work as a team, you have different minds to solve a single problem. Those minds should be managed in a way so that all can contribute to their own tasks in helping each other to achieve a single goal. Different businesses have different ways when concerning training their staff.

When you're doing an update to your software, you need to know how many of your staff members are required to be trained, and how do the training courses run. You also need to know who will carry out the training.

Large businesses come in many shapes and sizes. They have staffs that are associated with different department such as administration, membership, accounting, marketing, and many more. With these diversity, training your staff depends on how many of them are using the system you're about to update.

Staff may need a few training sessions depending on the complexity of the system and requirements, as well as their learning curve.

Your new software may have more features and more complex interface. Some may like the new things they see, but some may dislike because their already familiar with what they had and are happy with it. Adapting to the change takes time, and can be even longer than the training course itself. The update may slow your teams' productivity to a certain extent at that period. Consider that normal.

Using Real Data

Training courses can vary, but the most successful type of training usually involve sessions that use operationally-based data. This means that staffs are using real data when they are learning what they need to know.

When using web applications, the front-end of the application can be built specifically to your needs. The data can be then imported so your staffs can be familiar with what they used to see, and this will make them learn a lot faster. Your data can be imported from old database, or taken from live data but put in a tested environment.

By using real data should mean that invoices and memberships are able to be purchased, and any reports can be generated. Everything that a normal system do should be available and accessible. During the training, your staff should see exactly what they will see when the training course is over.

When using real data in a tested environment, you need to ensure that your old data is capable in running smoothly. Some data needs to be upgraded in order to run flawlessly in a new system. Have professionals see through the errors that may have occur before starting any training courses to your staffs, and always have backups available so you can instantly revert any changes that are done unintended.

Creating Resistance To Changes

When talking about software and system, they're updated when they're needed. You don't need to update when you don't want to, but the updates are about better privacy and security, for example, that is a crucial update to ensure the life of your business data.

Read: Internet Security for Small Businesses and Advanced Security Training for Information Safety

In most cases, not everyone is happy with updates because updates means they need to learn something new. And when that something new is a burden because it takes time for them to learn, they might not be as eager for it in the first place.

Changes are usually something big, and updates can also make some staff think that they can lose their jobs as your new system now incorporates automated process.

Furthermore, not all staff members were usually briefed or trained correctly.

To minimize the said circumstances, you need to ensure that your staffs are up-to-date with the newest news about what's going on within the company. This includes giving each and everyone of them a voice in order to make them valued throughout the decision process. Your staffs are the ones that put your company into one single powerhouse, their voice matters more than most.

When your software are in needs to be updated, but your staffs are hesitant, you can initiate the update live in sections, not all at once. This is to give your staffs a staged introduction. By the slow rollout, you can ensure that your new software is well understood before it becomes a mandatory for your staffs to use.

You should also ensure your staffs that their jobs aren't replaceable. Despite the new system provides better automated tasks, you need to make your staff understand that the new system will make their role easier, allowing the to focus more time on other important aspects.

Staff members need to be given time to test and get to know the new system before it goes live.

Conclusion

Training course

Having new things should be exciting. However, not everyone is pleased with the changes, especially when they're already happy with what they have. Transition from old software to a new one should be done for a purpose.

If the update has more benefit to you, but the drawbacks from your staff members are holding you back, you need to socialize the change to become a norm, slowly and steadily. Spare enough resources to address the reduced productivity. Always open your doors to any feedback coming from your staffs, and as long as it's not prolonged, things should go smooth in no time.

Further reading: Changing a Mindset Towards IT