Open minds and quick wins – the secret to implementation success?

17 March 2021

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Care Providers

Radar Healthcare was pleased to host two panels of guests at Health Plus Care Online, discussing: Covid, Care and digital technology – where do we go from here? and Supporting the patient journey through real-time information and data.

In the first session, Quality and Compliance Specialist Chris Sharman was asked ‘when is an organisation ready to adopt digital technology?’.

Chris told us:

“People always ask us about this and are usually concerned that the implementation process will become a huge disruption, but it was great to hear from the panel at Health Plus Care Online that the reality can be much simpler.

There’s no exact place for an organisation to be before they adopt a new system or move to a digital way of working. But having the ability to engage the team members who will be using it is one of the most important things to consider.

Picking the right system is obviously key in achieving this – technology is here to help, not hinder, and the proof is in the pudding. Once people see that the technology you’re providing is supporting their work, they’ll want to use it in more and more ways.

I think almost any organisation is ready for digital, but I always recommend implementing a new system with an open mind and clear business goals.”

Building on the discussion from the session, we wanted to share our 4 top tips for implementation success:

Prioritise your business needs: they say Rome wasn’t built in a day, and you don’t have to implement your new system all in one go either. We recommend prioritising your business needs and highlighting the biggest problems your technology can help solve. Make a detailed plan and take it step by step. Our project managers will help you with this too.
Look for quick wins: alongside solving your biggest problems, consider what you can get started on quickly and simply. For example, is getting ready for CQC inspection your biggest time stealer? Look at how digital audits can help. Are you concerned about getting the latest information to your team members? Trackable notices may be your priority. Most organisations already have sound processes in place – technology’s role is to automate and enhance what’s already there to save you time, money and provide deeper insight.
Get your super users ready: not every member of your team will need to know every little thing about your new software (and you can also set permissions to make sure you only give people the information and access they need). So, getting your super users or access-all areas administrators trained up is an important part of implementation.
Create an engagement plan: one of the biggest focuses in any implementation project is engaging the people who will be using the system. This should start as soon as possible, focusing on how the software is going to support your teams. Again, selecting the right software is a key part of this, and our project managers have a series of guides, tips and templates to offer advice on everything else.