COVID- 19 forced change on us quickly and dynamically. It took away our freedom to roam about, visit places and people, and be socially active. It also took away jobs, closed stores, medical practices, entertainment, and hospitality venues. From one day to the next, COVID-19 removed a sense of safety and security. And because of its dynamic nature, we still don’t know what to expect in the months to come.
Each of us has been impacted in some way with no time to really prepare. As a result, our virtual life has increased, and technology has become more important than ever.
This ongoing – and rapidly changing – situation presents several interesting questions regarding change management, adoption, and adapting to new scenarios.
The importance of transition
How would we have felt if, a year ago, we had been informed of this upcoming change and slowly transitioned into remote work and social isolation? What if we had been given time to slowly ease into time at home, online schooling for children, and no access to gyms or sports clubs or churches? Our stress levels would have been much lower and anxiety much more under control.
Imagine how much easier it would have been to navigate the realities of COVID-19 had we received proper change management and education. Preparation and the help of experts to make the best possible decisions when facing this big change would have likely decreased the negative impact.
Technology is key
Now more than ever, we know how important remote work is, how vulnerable our jobs can be, and how important it is for organizations to be office independent and still fully functioning. This means hard copies, physical files, drawings, and physical storage become outdated. Flexibility in file access anytime and anywhere is a key component.
OpenText products, solutions, and services are designed with that flexibility in mind to easily work anywhere without disruption. Data and content are stored securely for quick and easy access.
Let’s take OpenTextTM Extended ECM for Engineering as an example, a solution that helps efficiently control risk to engineering project scope, schedule, and costs; speeding-up time to production across the complex engineering world. With a strong focus on user adoption, customer-focused teams of subject matter experts are an important part of the design workshops, functional enablement, testing, and deployment.
Configuration training teaches the customer team about each module and how to build on the implementation to include incremental functionality or a roll out to more facilities. The approach ensures a user-friendly implementation, which is designed, configured, and tested by subject matter experts, under full guidance from OpenText Professional Services.
Having in mind what we have been learning about adjusting our lives to COVID-19, it is even more important to add or update data and content-oriented software and get users up and running in a short period of time. The economy is volatile and we as companies must remain agile and up to date. A quick return on investment is crucial, and a solid change management and user adoption strategy becomes even more important.
OpenText has certified Change Managers who are experts in OpenText products, and understand change management and user adoption specifically to software implementations. The holistic approach covers all aspects of a software change in an organization by putting the users first and design the tool around them.
Learn more about OpenText products in general, Extended ECM for Engineering in specific and how we can help to register, store, and organize drawings and engineering processes for the flexibility of working electronically and remotely.
Contact us for more information.
