5 Steps to Successfully Implement Technology in Service

Upgrading to new technology in service can feel like a huge undertaking for everyone involved – the users, service management, and even the dealer.

A recent BCG survey revealed 75% of transformation efforts don’t deliver the anticipated results.

Why? Technology goals are often not clearly defined and communicated, leading to confused and frustrated employees. Instead of adoption, you get resistance, misalignment across departments, and competing interests without common goals.

Breaking down new technology implementation into five simple steps helps you successfully manage a system change in your fixed operations department.

1. Set and communicate clear goals.

Whether you’re switching to a new DMS or adding technology to your service drive, you should precisely define the goal of this change and how it aligns with company and employee goals.

Your technicians won’t care about new technology if it doesn’t make their day-to-day problems disappear. They want to know how it will help them make more money.

Your goals can address streamlining processes, improving customer experience, and capturing more opportunities. Ultimately, you need to find common ground amongst your goals, your technician’s goals, and your organization’s goals before you can move onto solution selection.

2. Plan for resistance.

Pushback from the team is normal. Overcoming this resistance is key. Use different strategies for internal adoption. Remember, people learn and think differently based on their generation, their experience, and their history with your dealership.

Sell them on the value the new software will bring to their role, get a commitment from everyone on the team that they will use the new technology, and then motivate them to adopt. Find creative ways to encourage your team to follow your new process and adopt the new technology.

3. Ensure continuous improvement.

Successful technology implementation in service requires an ongoing commitment to improvement. Once the new technology has been embraced and usage becomes routine, the team should identify and address any additional training needs or gaps in the new processes and communicate that with their technology partner.

4. Measure success frequently.

Those initial goals can’t be “set it and forget it.” Get the team together to review utilization and progress on goals. This serves as a chance to reward positive displays of technology implementation, identify areas for improvement, and remind the team of your initial goals.

5. Rely on your technology partner.

It’s important to have a supportive technology partner at every step of the journey.

This begins with an installation team who makes sure the transition to new technology is as smooth as possible, whether helping convert data or making sure the software is properly implemented.

It’s just as important to have a training team who makes sure your employees are prepared and able to use these tools to meet the established goals. Training for every role in the dealership ensures everyone knows how the solution can better help them.

And of course, it’s critical to have a support team easily available and ready to help if any issues come up and resolve them as quickly as possible. This allows your dealership to avoid any major bumps in the road and keep you profitable for years to come.

Implementing new technology shouldn’t feel like a huge change. Rather, it should be a series of small day-to-day process improvements that ultimately lead to better operations and long-term profitability.

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