In User Adoption Strategies 2nd Ed. (2012) I profile numerous strategies that organizations are embracing to encourage user adoption of new ways of working – including the Bulk Loading Party strategy. In my reading this morning, I came across a story of how Rehmann Financial approached the implementation of a new ECM solution. Towards the end of the article is an overview of its use of the “Bulk Loading Party” strategy:
“So IT managers should take note: Part of implementing software designed to change business process requires managing organizational change. Flourry anticipated the need for change management from the get-go. “We knew people would be hesitant or fly under the radar and not use [the ECM system] because it is confusing,” Flourry recalled. “But we tried to prepare going into it.”
Part of change management involved building the stakeholder team, then developing trust and buy-in. Another critical piece was making the transition process from paper-based to digital systems a true team effort.
“We set up challenges to scan in the legacy items over time. We told people, ‘You can wear jeans, and we’re going to order a pizza and we’ll commit to scanning files for three hours.’ The motto has been ‘Eat the elephant one bite at a time.’ We’re not 100% there, but most offices have been able to get rid of their paper and those huge beast filing cabinets.”
This bite-sized approach to change management has been critical. Flourry noted that many companies want to implement ECM and try to swallow the ocean instead of taking an incremental approach.“
Have you used the Bulk Loading Strategy at your organization?
Categories: Adoption & Effective Use
Michael Sampson 