From discovery to implementation and client training, from setting expectations to delivering on promises, implementing workflow solutions calls upon the dealer, client and the software/hardware solutions provider to be in sync.
Brad Yocum, market manager for Function4, underscores the importance of the discovery phase of any project. That calls for in-depth interviews with users in the beginning and understanding their expectations and daily workflows prior to devising a workflow integration. A user-friendly interface can go a long way toward ensuring the training portion of a project is as seamless as possible.
“Fortunately, M-Files has a very friendly interface that can be modified in a number of different ways to the end user’s requirements,” Yocum said. “It has a very similar look as Microsoft Outlook, so it’s not intimidating or entirely foreign-looking when the users get involved. Probably one of the strongest points of the product is user adoption.”
Post-Support
Training is essential for dealer team members to ensure they stay current on the products they offer, to know their capabilities and how they can solve customer problems, notes John Sutton, national director of sales for Novatech. On the client end, it’s vital to provide a proper understanding of what the offering does for their business needs and that they have a conduit to maintain additional training going forward.
“(The customer’s) people will come and go, and we have to have a plan in place to ensure new teams have the resources and use the offering in the most seamless way possible,” he said. “Post-support is really the key pillar of our model. Because the business landscape will change, the dynamic of the customer will change and we always try to ensure that we’re as nimble on the support side of the house to not only meet the initial need but have the ability to scale as the customer’s needs grow and change in scope.”
Perhaps the most effective segue into training is the inclusion of key client employees during the rollout phase, notes Steve Behm, vice president of professional services for Flex Technology Group. That way, those who are going to be most involved in using the solution will have that preliminary exposure to how it’s being implemented and what it will look like when completed. That also reduces the chance of unwanted surprises and provides ample opportunity for providing notes/commentary.
“I’m a firm believer in training them, letting them work with the solution for a little while, then coming back for another training course,” Behm said. “They can ask questions, which provides for an interactive Q&A session. Then we can turn them loose and maybe come back to do a third iteration. That’s when the questions begin to fade.”
Connecting the Dots
When it comes to any workflow automation, the key is to not only be precise, but concise as well. Mark Lasinis, director of technology for Imagine Technology Group, points out that you can provide a user with a beautifully crafted eight-page document that has concise directions, complete with images, but they may not use it every time. Making it precise, as simple as possible with all of the key elements in order for the user to rely on it religiously, can help eliminate the headaches.
“If you load a document, you want to load it the correct way,” he noted. “If it’s supposed to receive one of five key index values that decides which routing goes next, you’ve got to make sure they know which ones to choose accordingly. Keeping it concise is key. Otherwise, people will take shortcuts, they won’t read the document, and that’s when things will go wrong.”
The onus is on the dealer to become the trusted advisor, according to Stephanie Keating Phillips, director of solutions for Advanced Imaging Solutions. Learning the software, from the dealer end, helps to keep all parties in harmony, particularly when one is dealing with multiple software titles.
“If you’re really not secure in what you’re doing, you can easily get upside down and have your client question why they did this project in the first place,” she said. “Make sure you have someone who is fully versed in whatever direct relations that you’re proposing to clients. In our case, we’re talking about $80,000 to $150,000 in software that is going to completely manage an entire school district, so it’s imperative that you know what you’re getting yourself into.”
