Before completely committing to one software system it’s important to shop around and figure out which platform will work best for your business. Most software providers offer a free trial of their product where you can test out some or all of the core features. It’s important to make the most of this time and use the software to its fullest extent. This lets you see if the tools are to your liking and are easy for your team to learn. Make sure you and your team don’t just sign up once and forget about it because you only get a free trial once!

Learning the basics

Now that you’ve settled on your management software it’s now time to start your training and onboarding. How do you create a job? An invoice? A schedule? You’ll need to learn all of these if you want to make the most out of your new software. Another thing to consider is whether the provider of your management software offers free training, or has an onboarding program.

Fortunately, there are a lot of ways for you and your team to get trained up in management software based on how you like to learn.

• Book a training session
  No one knows the software better than the people who made it. Booking a training session means an expert will walk you through the software and answer any questions that you or your team might have.
• Take a product tour
  The first time you log in into a system will most likely take you to a product tour. This is a step-by-step guide that literally walks you through the software at your own pace. The software will provide text instructions on how to do basic functions and won’t continue through to the next parts until you complete each step as instructed.
• Read an onboarding guide
  Are you more of a reader? Your provider will have a ton of guides and articles available for you to read about the software. If you get stuck or run into an error you can look up these guides and learn as you work.
• Watch an intro video
  Get the rundown of your system through a quick video that goes through the basics of the software before even logging in. This is also a great tool to show to your team if they’re feeling hesitant about jumping on board.

Getting your team on board

Sometimes people like their current way of doing things, despite it being more time-consuming or trickier to do. It’s important that before any software is completely rolled out that you sit down with your team and have an open conversation. Tell them what the software is and why you’re implementing it, highlight the benefits and how it will help everyone do their job more efficiently. Make sure that the dialogue goes both ways and that you listen to everyone’s concerns. Only with understanding and patience will the transition be an easy one. When it comes to bringing on new systems into the workplace, it’s recommended that you start small and with only a few features before gradually bringing on more.

Finding where to get help

Whether it’s your first day or your 10th year using job management software chances are you’ll need some help down the line. That’s why it’s important to know how to get in touch with someone who can help in your time of need.

• Know how to contact Customer Support
  Whether call, email or live chat, your software provider will have a way for you to reach them. They’ll have a team of experts at the ready to help you with whatever issue you have.
• Follow your software provider on social media
  A business Facebook or Twitter account is a great way to get in touch if you have a problem. Most pages respond within 24 hours and can point you in the right direction of what to do. It’s also a great place to see if others have a similar issue and find out how they fixed it.
• Stay up to date with updates and changes
  Does your management system have a blog? A weekly newsletter? Subscribing to these allows you and your team to know when important updates have come out.