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. If you have been a part of as many technology implementations as I have – I know that seems strange from a marketing person, but I have racked up many over the years – then you know that it can be very stressful for everyone involved – the IT team, business leaders, end users, partners…the list goes on.  And, in every project team that I have participated, I have often felt like a therapist listening to people’s emotions about the process.  Since then I have come to determine a very important concept:

Technology Implementation

Therapy

Kübler-Ross Model (5 Stages of Grief)

Everyone who goes through a technology implementation needs therapy. Why? Because it is goes hand-in-hand with the Five Stages of Grief . You may think I am joking – but seriously the parallels are undeniable: there are five stages ending with acceptance, you may not do the steps in order, you may do some steps more than once, and while you may skip a step, you must go through at least two. Over my next five blog posts, I plan in more detail to explain how understanding the Kübler-Ross Model can help you have a more successful technology implementation project. I often speak in analogies – in meetings, public speaking, with my kids... It typically gets me some laughs, and it gets ideas across quickly. Why should my blogs be any different?