So, you’ve done your research, compared pricing, weighed the features you want, and finally chosen your new safety technology platform. Now what?

For any software tool to actually deliver on what it is intended to do, you need an implementation plan. In some cases, this can be pretty simple: Mario will download the app and watch a YouTube video on how to use it. He’ll share what he’s learned with Shirley.

But for platforms that are designed to actually help to reduce incidents, change the way someone looks at a problem or spark innovation, a thoughtful plan for rollout should be non-negotiable. Otherwise, you’re at risk of turning what could be a really powerful optimization tool into just an app.

We’ve been helping companies onboard new technology to achieve their productivity and safety goals for more than 20 years. Along the way, we’ve designed a five-step implementation process that promotes buy-in and accelerates adoption. It also ensures that our customers get what they want out of the system!

The most important step happens before anyone ever uses our software and it is the chief determinant of whether our customers meet their long-term incident prevention objectives. If everyone is not on the same page about the expectations for the software and how it will be used to help you achieve your organizational goals, your probability of success will be impacted.

Here’s what we do, and we recommend this to everyone we know: Hold a kick-off meeting and make sure to include senior and executive leadership. Talk about your safety program goals and develop objectives to achieve them. Level-set expectations as well, and make sure everyone knows that no software is a panacea, they are simply tools. Map how your new tools will help you achieve your goals and define how you’ll measure your progress along the way.

Take it from us, once you have a unified vision, the rest of the process follows naturally.

See the whole process here. It’s deceptively simple but incredibly impactful.