3 HR Tech Implementation Tips to Prevent Analysis Paralysis

Change — in every area of life — often leads to many questions and concerns. We’re constantly making decisions, each with varying impact. Think about it: depending on what’s at stake, answering your spouse’s question of “What do you want for dinner?” can be more difficult to answer than when your boss asks “What recruiting strategy will help us hit our talent goals fastest?”

It’s not just the available options that cause stress, but also the added element of making a decision that 1) yields the best results and 2) pleases the masses. Too often, the result is analysis paralysis — where we’re unable to make a decision at all.

When implementing new SaaS technology, many HR teams find themselves struggling with analysis paralysis, and it’s not due to a lack of knowledge or skill.

“Too many choices can overwhelm us and cause us to not choose at all. For businesses, this means that if they offer us too many choices, we may not buy anything” - Sheena S. Iyengar is the S.T. Lee Professor of Business in the Management Department at Columbia Business School

In this post, we’ll explore three key ways to help us clearly make swift decisions that bring us to our desired result — the implementation of new HR tech — faster.

How to prepare for faster decision making

Propelling a massive software implementation can be easily upset by getting caught up in the “what-ifs.”

You know you need to better manage candidate outreach — but should you use SMS as well as email campaigns? You have multiple office locations across the world — but how will you stand up your career site locales efficiently and effectively?

Before you start making decisions, ask yourself a few questions:

What business problems are you trying to solve, and what features do you need to achieve your goals?
What preconfigured settings are necessary to meet your organization’s needs?
How will you conduct widespread knowledge rollout across your organization?
How do you ensure long-term adoption?

To help you establish clear answers to each of these questions without getting caught up in the options, here are three ways to sail through the process:

1. Identify 3-5 goals before implementation.

Capturing your company goals when onboarding a new product will help drive decision making during configuration and integration setup. With your goals in mind, you will become more efficient during requirements-gathering to make sure the product is configured properly for your organization’s business needs.

This is also the right time to consider what a successful onboarding process looks like. Take note of three to five goals you plan to accomplish out of implementing HR software. For example:

Highlight Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Provide candidates with a customized job search experience for a hard-to-fill role or category
Empower employees with the tools they need to advance their careers

2. Become the HR Tech SME (Subject Matter Expert) of your organization.

This is a fundamental path to adoption. Throughout onboarding, your HR Tech provider should empower you with best practices and guide you through decisions based on your business needs.

In return, you can become the internal advocate to give your team the best options when making selections throughout the process.

For example, Phenom equips customers with a robust LMS (Learning Management System) that provides them with the knowledge to become a Phenom SME at their organization. Users can even become Phenom Certified and solidify themselves as Phenom Champions among their colleagues.

3. Establish your core HR tech implementation team.

Find out which individuals at your company will be a point person for each of the following areas that will be covered during implementation. This step is a huge time saver and plays a big part in a successful, smooth implementation.

Executive Sponsor: This is your senior leader/advocate for your implementation.
Branding/Marketing: This individual(s) will be providing your company’s branding guidelines and logo requirements.
Internal ATS Resource: This individual(s) will help set up access to your ATS for integration.
Recruitment Champion Team: TA recruiters who understand the current recruiting process, organizational structure, and day-to-day operations. This individual(s) will have an understanding of TA leadership’s expectation of the Phenom CRM.
IT Resource: As applicable to your project scope, this individual(s) will help with SSO, CSR/SSL Certificate, email white labeling, and external site tasks required when you go live. You should also determine if your company has any internal governance process requirements for implementing a new product. If so, make sure this is captured in the project timeline to reduce risks in meeting project milestone dates.

Setting your team up for a successful implementation

By following these Phenom-preferred tips, you’ll set yourself up for success during your HR software implementation and onboarding. If you ever run into analysis paralysis, reach out to your Engagement Manager or Customer Success Manager to help you get back on track!

Want additional best practices to help you maximize your HR tech and adoption? Join us for IAMHR — a 3-day virtual event, Dec. 8-10!

For more information about the Phenom onboarding program, check out our services here!

Laura Ramos