Successful Small Business Software Implementation Requires Forward-Thinking and Flexibility

Small business software implementations aren’t, by default, successful. Sure, a company might tout its flashy new software package, but there are far too many stories that involve abandoning that same software when the going gets tough.

Before signing a vendor agreement, it’s important for small businesses to consider what successful software implementation actually looks like. This can prove to be difficult in an industry that pushes the latest fads in technology and is prone to upsell customers on powerful software they might not even dream of using. Plus, the landscape, particularly regarding generative AI, is becoming congested and difficult to navigate.

Small businesses must look beyond a software’s features to determine what makes it a success, and instead focus on the processes it enhances. This must also be done dynamically; once a company stops moving forward, it’s dead in the water, and the same can be said for its software deployment.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when buying software:

“What problems are we trying to solve?”

Ultimately, the success of a software implementation isn’t something that can be determined right away. It requires time for users to kick the tires, so to speak, testing its limits, adaptability, and overall purpose. Even the most fully functional piece of software serves no purpose if it’s attempting to solve a problem that a company doesn’t have, or if the problems facing the company are too foundational for software to touch.

Before considering software as a solution, every small business must undergo an important thought exercise that focuses on process. I covered this extensively in my last article, but in summation, small business owners should aspire to work on the business rather than in the business. Basically, this means extracting owners and managers from the day-to-day grind of running operations so they can focus on big-picture concepts like sustainable growth, CX strategies, and industry trends; it’s simply impossible to take a bird’s eye view of a business while wading through the trenches.

Process-oriented thinking involves formalizing how a company does business by focusing on each step, one at a time. Small business owners can formalize the goals of each step, who owns which phase of the work, when important hand-offs occur, and which resources are required to complete the steps efficiently. From there, it will become clear what a company is doing well and where it can improve—important information to guide software-buying decisions.

Key to this work is an understanding of which processes are likely to remain after business growth and which will require adaptation. This helps in targeting the right piece of software that can address current needs while offering enough flexibility to face upcoming, often unpredictable challenges—either because new information has emerged, a company has tweaked the way it operates, or, most importantly, employees have provided feedback. It’s essential that adaptable software include an analytics component to aid these efforts, affording users visibility into how things are going.

Still, small businesses have to remember that even the most adaptable pieces of software shouldn’t be changed just for the sake of change. Each tweak requires resources, which are in short supply for small businesses, so wasted efforts hit at least twice as hard. With an analytics backbone supporting the software, small businesses can begin making informed decisions about refining their work, with an eye towards maximum efficiency.

The above points come with a caveat: Small businesses shouldn’t feel pressure to change things that are working! The flashiest, most whiz-bang AI can’t compete with an established workflow with buy-in across an organization.

Employees at small businesses are more likely to use AI-powered software if the AI technology is embedded smartly, enhancing aspects of the software that don’t require a steep learning curve. This is particularly important because often small businesses have developed an idiosyncratic way of working, or perhaps they have yet to develop a workflow at all. These companies require AI that works with them rather than creating tension, or requiring decisions a small business isn’t ready to make.

“How will we get people to use it?”

Before small businesses can iterate on software changes, they must achieve a critical mass of employees actually using the software itself. Otherwise, the implementation, regardless of how robust it may be, will fail outright, wasting finances and, most importantly of all, time.

The process of building organizational buy-in starts with a conversation. Employees should learn the goals behind the software revamp and receive a chance to weigh in. The earlier a company involves its employees, and the more it demonstrates it’s open to hearing what they have to say, the more likely employees will give new software the benefit of the doubt—especially knowing there will be changes along the way.

For best results, small businesses should begin with a small deployment. They can pick one or two pieces of software to implement and ask employees to become involved in the trial period. It should become very apparent within a short amount of time if this software is going to become an essential tool or will fall by the wayside—if it gets employees to engage, a company is on the right path. By bringing employees into the fold from the start, they will feel like they have a say in which tools they will eventually use, increasing the chances they’ll be willing to give them a shot.

Adoptable small business software also allows individual users to directly customize how they work. It contains dashboards that display important information and highlight mission-critical tasks as they come up. It simplifies communications by featuring integration between apps so no message gets lost—and messages can be turned into action items effortlessly.

Finally, small businesses have to consider how their employees are working these days. While some businesses are mandating a return to office five days a week, many continue to operate on a hybrid model or allow employees to work fully remote, which means successful software also needs to offer the same functionality on mobile as it does on desktop. That way, employees can connect remotely, no matter where they happen to be, and still expect to get work done just as efficiently.

“How do we know the software is working?”

Small business software should make everyone’s lives easier, not harder.

It sounds obvious, but it’s very tempting to get into the weeds of a software implementation that promises the moon, the stars, and everything in-between, and forget that good software should deliver quick initial value, with more arriving as time goes on. Sure, it may require a little set-up at the beginning, but software chock-full of bells and whistles won’t matter if the company can’t ring the bells or blow the whistles.

It’s helpful for small businesses to begin by defining the problems they hope new software will solve. What are the KPIs? Based on the problems that were identified when thinking about process, what are the specific indicators that indicate those issues have been improved or addressed? For example, how much time was someone spending on data entry before the solutions, versus now? It can be helpful to have hard data in a report to understand this, but even an anecdotal report from an employee can be useful to assess the impact of the solution.

Clarity on success metrics is essential to understanding what the software is doing well, particularly if work is being done behind-the-scenes. Take AI, for example: the technology can handle rudimentary tasks and calculations that might have required a fair amount of time and focus beforehand, then can effortlessly slot the results into places where they can be most useful. When AI is enmeshed seamlessly into operations, users may not even realize AI is involved at all—but those who have defined success will be paying closer attention.

Not only will AI offload time-consuming tasks from employees, but the corollary is also true: AI can enable employees to take on more important responsibilities that may have been pushed off due to the sheer volume of work they had to accomplish previously. This enables employees to upskill themselves and become more impactful contributors, all while reducing the headaches associated with the sort of rote tedium better handled by AI, anyways.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the success of a software implementation boils down to the success of a small business’s partnership with its technology vendor. One-size-fits-all solutions simply won’t catch on at most small businesses, which often defy categorization because they need to maintain flexibility. Strict contract terms won’t serve small business software success, either—newer companies can’t possibly predict every single use case that might crop up. And, if changes have to be made that are beyond the scope of a small business, the right vendor will listen to this feedback and offer workarounds or add these features to its roadmap.

Small businesses who prioritize finding the right software partner will benefit from technology that’s better tailored towards their needs and grows alongside the business—and vice versa. Even within the digital space, success requires a human touch.

Image v

This article, "Successful Small Business Software Implementation Requires Forward-Thinking and Flexibility" was first published on Small Business Trends