Technology Implementation goes Hand-in-Hand with Therapy, Steps 4 and 5

In the first blog entry of this series, I used this AdultSwim video on YouTube to outline the five stages of grief and then related them to the five steps to a successful technology implementation. The subsequent entries included have gone into more detail for each stage and step – Needs/Denial, Process/Anger, and Training/Bargaining. That brings us to this final entry in this series, which will cover: Step 4: Technology Rollout; or, Stage 4: Depression Stage 5: Rallying the Users; or Stage 5: Acceptance Along the way I’ve drawn a comparison between Technology Implementation, Therapy and the Kübler-Ross Model for Grief. Implementing new technology in your agency, or any organization, can be hard and if not done right can have catastrophic consequences. Don’t believe me? Just ask Hershey; yes, the chocolate company. Hershey Food Corp spent $112 million and 30 months of implementation effort, however, when they attempted to go live in July 1999, the company experienced catastrophic failures with sales order processing, which had a crippling effect in shipping delays and deliveries of incomplete orders. That’s a lot of melting chocolate.

Technology Implementation Kübler-Ross Model, Step 1/Stage 1

This is the second entry in a six-part blog series. In my last blog entry in this series, I humorously drew connections between Technology Implementation, Therapy and the Kübler-Ross Model for Grief[TR1] (here is the video again, just because it is hilarious: [c2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Usm9SpnHYJQ&feature=player_embedded). Now, I want to follow-through on that analogy to show the specific connections between the five steps to a successful implementation and the five stages of grief: Step 1: Assess Needs First and Technology Second; or, Stage 1: Denial

Technology Implementation Goes Hand-in-Hand with Therapy

I was asked to speak last week at a Women in Technology event on the Intersection of Technology and Marketing. As one of four panelists, I had only 7 minutes to present an idea and then field questions from the audience. This presentation was a big enough hit that I thought I should share it here. Typically, I speak to how DLT uses technology to monitor marketing metrics and get the best results. Since another panelist was taking that topic, this time I spoke to some basic principles for getting the best results out of implementing a new technology, any technology – software/hardware/SaaS. Whether for marketing or any other business need, there are certain truths that are unavoidable. The first truth is that implementing new technology can be hard. The second is that if not done right, it can have catastrophic consequences for your organization. And, last, there is a human factor in every implementation that must be taken into consideration.