Reimagining technology implementation strategy when nothing is normal

Technology implementation in commodity management is complicated. They require a comprehensive plan, an experienced workforce and rich domain experience at the executive and project level. Given the inherent complexity, successful implementation requires extensive industry know how, specialized technical and business expertise and a highly skilled and experienced solution provider committed to ensuring success.

Prior to the pandemic, consultants worked or travelled on-site to physically oversee the implementation. Today, however, being physically present during implementations is no longer an option. Does that mean businesses halt critical implementations?

Luckily for Eka, with our cloud driven digital solutions, businesses no longer need to worry about business continuity.

That said, selecting the right solution is only one part of a larger and more complicated process. Enabling a successful remote implementation calls for a multi-dimensional strategy. An approach that goes beyond professional services should also address these three key components:

• Proven methodology to meet customer commitments
• Engaging and easy to consume user experience and training to accelerate user adoption
• Enabling user self-service

Remote Methodology Playbook:

The cornerstone of success of any implementation project rests on the ability to execute with speed and quality while meeting all commitments.  It all starts with a defined, repeatable methodology. Are the tools and techniques in place that you and your team can quickly pivot, or are there wholesale, unproven changes that are required?

A basic but a crucial step in enabling a successful implementation remotely, a well-documented methodology with a set of standard processes goes a long way in creating cohesion among people working remotely in various locations in terms of objectives, expectations and most importantly establishing trust. Outlining the methodology further with well-defined UAT scenarios with entry and exit criteria ensures there is little room left for interpretation with a plan that is thought through till the end.

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User interface and training:

A simplified user interface allows our customers to do their job easily, which helps in increasing user adoption. Eka provides a sandbox environment on the day of project kick-off. Familiarizing users to the solution ahead of the project rollout helps bring down the complexity leading to faster adoption while reducing overall project timelines. These implementations are supported by impactful virtual trainings from Ekademy – Eka’s rich education portal which is a cornerstone of the company’s client-centric approach.

Enabling self-service:

Gone are the days when an employee could walk to the IT department to troubleshoot. New ways of working are shaping up that call for significant focus on the need to enable self-service for workers to support remote ways of working at scale. It’s important to note that not everyone in the workforce come with the same level of technical proficiency. By providing detailed and comprehensive in-solution self-help features based on best practices that users can access on their own, enables broader adoption and reduces the need for manual support allowing users to accomplish tasks more independently.

As much as we might like to return to the way things were, we won’t. Offices will resume eventually, but the tried and tested enterprise technology implementation models businesses long relied on will undergo an overhaul. That said, no two implementations are alike, and the remote methodology needs to be adapted as per the requirements of every customer. But it’s an investment that will go a long way in partnering customers to accelerate their digital transformation and help them thrive through the prevailing global uncertainty.