4 Strategies to Introduce Employees to New Technology

By Cass Jacoby, RCS Reporter. 

How to help your employees adapt when you are implementing new technology so they can take advantage of the benefits. 

Adjusting to new technology, such as software, can be tricky. Implementing a new process can  be met with some pushback as different people will struggle with change in different ways. The entire team needs to be on board and ready to make a positive change, while also understanding the processes of implementing these changes. However, helping your team embrace new tech isn’t impossible. Follow these four tips for smoothing over the process of introducing a new technology. 

1 – Ease into it. 

There is no need to jump into a new program all at once. Having employees hit the ground running as they figure out new technology isn’t necessarily the best strategy. Start with a small rollout so that you can identify pain points before your whole staff is involved. Forconstructionpros.com recommends getting a few tech-savvy employees together to pinpoint what aspects of the tech will raise the most questions or have the biggest learning curve so that you know what to look for when you introduce the rest of your team to the technology. The NRCA also notes that having a small “test” team go through training before others allows certain members to understand how the technology works to a point where, when you roll out the tech to a larger group, they can help answer questions and give advice. 

2 – Find a champion. 

Choose someone to be an advocate and an expert for the new technology. This person will be the go-between for the company and the vendor. In an RCS white paper, Joe Pettit from Estimating EDGE explains that the champion is a critical part to smoothly implementing new technology into a company. “It has to be someone who knows the company well enough to be able to help set things up without bringing the entire company into it. Once the database is customized for your company it makes it much easier to bring the other estimators onboard,” said Joe. Once you find someone to embrace the new tech and own their position as the advocate for this tech, you will be amazed at how much they can help you. 

3 – Set expectations. 

For an employee to adopt a new technology they have to first be willing to learn a new tool. This can be made easier by setting clear benchmarks and offering small rewards to encourage participation Seek suggests incentivizing the use of new systems. For example, you can offer rewards for setting up a user account or completing a training module. Offering employees a tangible way to measure their success throughout this process will make it easier to motivate them to learn the new tech. 

4 – Explain and train. 

Change isn’t easy. It’s one of biggest challenges business owners see, however, as soon as employees see that a process makes it easier for them to do their jobs, they tend to be more open-minded about the new systems. Forbes recommends communicating the “why” and the “how” as much as possible to gain accelerated adoption. Once your employees understand the benefits, offering ongoing training is an excellent way to support employees as you make this transition. 

Conclusion 

Introducing new technology to a workplace isn’t always a smooth process, but by following these strategies you’ll be able to help employees embrace systems. New technologies and change are part of how businesses stay relevant and successful, so finding new ways to reduce resistance will make obtaining company goals much easier. 

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