Change management checklist: How to spearhead technology adoption

Many businesses plan to achieve 42% of their finance automation goals in the next 2 years. 

Read the full 2022 CFO Study: The future of automation and intelligence within enterprise finance

But, with change inevitably comes growing pains (and sometimes pushback from internal team members). 

There's no way to get around it. 

For successful change management, a new approach is needed in leadership training and development, there must be a change in the mindset of the employees, and there must be room for active communication and feedback.

It’s “easy” to make strategic choices about which markets or products to enter or leave. The hardest part is to change the culture.  Making a large-scale technology change is stressful for everyone involved, and if it's not handled correctly, it can lead to delays, unnecessary costs, and even total project failure. 

With that said, change management is a necessary part of any business, and you must approach it in the right way. The key elements to drive change successfully is purpose and transparency. Here's what you should do before, during, and after a change.

Change management checklist

•  Start early
•  Make a decision
•  Ease into it
•  Offer training
•  Encourage ongoing communication/training

Are you prepared for technology changes? 

Start early

You should start by communicating with everyone on your team about the transition early on. 

This includes getting team buy-in and letting people feel like they are a part of the overall process. This will show your team that you care about their thoughts and that you want to select a program that, at the end of the day, streamlines their day-to-day tasks.

You can start the conversation by holding meetings and sending out surveys to learn some of the current challenges your teams face. 

In this survey, you can also collect input about their thoughts about onboarding a new system. 

Make a decision

Once you’ve collected feedback and met with your team, it’s time to make a decision. 

There are many types of automation software on the market. And it’s best to select one that is in alignment with your team’s needs. 

During this time, it’s crucial to read reviews, demo the software, look at its integration capabilities, and understand the ins and outs of the software’s functionality before making a decision. 

If you have questions, be sure to talk to a technology rep to get better insight into the onboarding process from start to finish and functionalities/features that may be helpful to your organization.  Third party technology consultants can also be a helpful, unbiased resource when deciding on the right tool.

Ease into it

Next, you won’t want to shock your team with your decision. 

Instead, you will want to ease them into the new change by telling them something along the lines of, “Hey, in 3 months, we are going to roll out a new automation system. We just wanted to keep you looped in.”

After you’ve let them know ahead of time, you and other influential company ambassadors within your organization will need to put on a “sales hat” to drive home the benefits and reasons for change to the team. 

Many companies may believe that employees are change-phobic, but that’s the contrary. Most team members are willing and want to see technological changes — as long as they understand the “why” behind the decision.

Offer training

Now, you will want to ensure that everyone on your team is up-to-speed on how to use the new technology. 

At Vic.ai, we offer in-depth, hands-on training sessions with new clients to ensure that everyone who will be using the automation system is set up for success. 

We also have an intercom question forum where users can ask us questions if they are stuck with a technology issue. 

A thing to note before choosing a new software is to ask the software company what kind of training they offer. The last thing you want is to have a new software system without a clue about how to use it. 

Encourage ongoing communication/training

Lastly, you will want to monitor how well employees are adapting to new changes and provide support as needed. 

As a manager or upper-level executive, you should encourage ongoing communication and training sessions with team members to make sure that no one is feeling “left behind”.

Everyone wants to feel heard, and any change can be a shock which is why you want to keep that line of communication open for anyone that needs it. Every software technology has its own nuances, so patience and understanding is key to help scale adoption.

Adapt to technological changes. Automate your processes.

Whether you're just getting started with accounting automation or are having issues post-rollout, these tips will be sure to help make the change management process smoother. 

Hopefully, they can even minimize the headaches caused by change management. But more importantly, we hope that they can get everyone excited about accounting automation and its potential!

Simplify & streamline accounts payable

Automation has been an integral part of invoice processing over the last decade, and with the help of AI, you can reap the full benefits to unlock faster and more accurate accounting. 

Streamline invoice processing the right way with Vic.ai. Let’s avoid invoice processing errors — together. Download our e-book to free your finance department from manual guesswork and take actionable steps to simplify your approval flow.