HOUSTON BUSINESS REVIEW

COST-EFFECTIVE IT: Training the New Business Process
By Richard Sonnier

Houston Business Show Commentator Richard Sonnier, of the Information Technology Services firm Nimble Services, provides weekly information on our show about information technology issues. Mr. Sonnier can be reached at 281.445.4800 x 250 or via email.

After taking several weeks off, I am back and returning to the Money Saving Technology series. This week I will discuss training your staff on the improved business process.

Money Saving Technology Review

Let's review the 8 steps to Save Money with Information Technology:

1. Identity repetitive, manual parts of your business process.
2. Design a system or method to automate these repetitive parts.
3. Obtain the IT hardware and software to implement the design.
4. Implement the system.
5. Integrate the automated system into your business process.
6. Train your staff on the improved business process.
7. Test the automation in parallel with the existing process.
8. Shutdown the old process and save that cost.

In the last article, I reviewed the fifth step where you integrate the new IT system into the business process. Now, you are ready to train your staff on the new process.

The Importance of Being Trained

Because of the PC industry's mantra that computer are easy to use, most businesses want to skip this step. This leads to "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory" problem. Don't skip the training. Training provides the user with 3 extremely important results:

1. It reduces or eliminates mistakes in using the system.
2. It shows the user how to save time using the system.
3. It emphasizes the system's importance to the company.
You are selling the new system to the staff; and making sure it delivers on your investment.

Effective Training

Different users will need different training on the system. Some users will need classroom show and tell while others will need hands-on training. I recommend the following for any new system:

• Introduce the new system
o What is it?
o How will it help the company?
o How will it help the user work faster?
o Use company specific examples.
• Scripted practice sessions
o Step-by-step instructions to do the common procedures
o Have each user perform the procedures on the practice system
o Rate the user's performance on the procedures
o Indicate how the user can improve
• Go live support
o When you first go production with the system, you want to have extra help on hand to solve any "first day" problems fast.

Next week, I will continue this discussion by focusing on testing the automation in parallel with the existing process.