How to Transition to New Technology Smoothly

| February 19, 2016

How to Transition to New Technology Smoothly

It’s not always easy to let go of old technology and move towards the new. People who’ve been around for several decades would tell you that it wasn’t easy for them to adapt to working with a computer instead of books and typewriters. Naturally, new technology can be intimidating and disruptive.

Even in this day and age, there are people who might not adapt to new tech easily. However, if you need to future-proof your company, you need to keep up with the times. One of the best ways to do that is to plan and prepare well. Here’s what you can do.

Keep Your Employees in Mind

You need to remember that your employees will be operating the technology and would have to learn to use it.  It’s good practice to inform them in advance and explain how the technology would benefit the company. If you explain the use of the technology, how it would make their job easier, and how it much learning it would require, your employees will be more comfortable with the change. If your prepare them, they would make an effort to learn and accept, which would ensure that assimilation of the new technology would happen quickly and smoothly.

Encourage Change

Your company culture would play an important role in the entire situation. If you’ve created a culture where change and growth are encouraged, your employees will have an easier time. However, if your company culture doesn’t accept this, you’ll face some resistance. It’s a good idea to start incorporating this into your company culture as soon as possible. It would only help you in the future.

Encourage Leaning 

It’s a good idea to encourage your employees to keep up with the times. If they know the recent developments in your industry, they’re more equipped to handle any kind of change. Technology develops at a rapid pace and every day, something new is introduced into the market. While it’s nearly impossible to always keep up with the industry, you can easily learn as much as you are able to. So, if any new tech is introduced, you’ll have a base and some foundation to work with.

Understand the Technology

It’s a good idea to get comfortable with the technology yourself before you try to get you employees to use it. You need to make sure that it’s workable and easy to use. If you find it difficult to understand and operate, your employees might as well. You might not be able to test out all of the new technology that’s been used, but you can ask for opinions and suggestions from your executive level employees. For example, if you plan to use new software in your company, you might ask your guy in IT to test it out first and have them explain it to you.

After you’ve used the technology, if you still feel that it’s easy to learn and beneficial for your business, you can introduce it to your employees. If you understand the technology, you might understand time it would take for your employees to adjust to it and make the right arrangements.