Module 26 · Specialist · 8 min read
Change management and user adoption
You will be able to: Distinguish project management from change management; Plan adoption activities and spot resistance; Measure adoption after go-live.
- Read not done yet
- Self-check: not taken not done yet
- Lesson complete not done yet
A technically perfect system that people avoid is a failed implementation. Change management is the work of helping people move from the old way to the new one. It starts in discovery, not at training.
Why people resist
| Sign | Likely cause | Response |
|---|---|---|
| 'We have always done it this way' | Fear of losing skill or status | Involve them in design; show the new role |
| Slow entry, keeping Excel on the side | Not trained enough, or the system is slower for them | Coach; fix screens or defaults; retire the side file |
| Gossip about errors | No visible fixes | Publish the issue log and fixes |
| Silence in training | Fear of looking foolish | Small groups, practice, no blame |
| Manager still asks for paper reports | Leadership not using the system | Sponsor requests reports from Zeyto only |
An adoption plan
- Say why: the sponsor explains the reasons and benefits, in plain words, before the project starts.
- Find champions: one respected person per team who is a key user and tester.
- Involve users: workshops, UAT and design feedback.
- Train by role and early enough, with practice on real examples.
- Retire the old tools on a fixed date, so there is one source of truth.
- Reinforce: the owner reads Zeyto reports, and the Daily Owner Report arrives each evening.
- Measure and respond.
Measures of adoption
- Share of transactions entered in Zeyto compared with paper or spreadsheets.
- Number of users who signed in this week compared with the number trained.
- Number of 'how do I' tickets per week, falling over time.
- Quality: reversed or amended documents as a share of all documents.
- A short satisfaction question after four weeks.
Retiring the Excel stock sheetA distributor's storekeeper kept an Excel stock sheet 'just in case' for three weeks after go-live. Stock differed between the sheet and Zeyto, and staff stopped trusting both. The sponsor set a date, locked the Excel file as read-only, and had the storekeeper's best colleague pair with him on the Zeyto stock reports. By week five the sheet was no longer opened.
Watch outDo not announce the system as a monitoring tool. If staff believe it exists to catch them, they will find ways around it. Explain how it makes their own work easier.
TipCelebrate a visible quick win in the first month: for example the first month-end closed in six days instead of twelve.
Practise in the demo
- Write a six-line communication for staff explaining why the company is moving to Zeyto.
- List four adoption measures you could read from Zeyto reports for a 12-user client.
- Open https://demo.zeyto.app/demo-app/ and sign in with the demo login. This is a public demo with sample data, so nothing you do there affects a real business.
Public demo company, sign in as admin / demoAdmin123. Data refreshes nightly.
Key takeaways
- Change management starts in discovery and focuses on people.
- Find champions, train early, retire the old tools and have leaders use the new reports.
- Measure adoption with usage, quality and ticket trends.
Check yourself
3 questions on this lesson. Not timed, not the exam, and you can try again. Score 60% or more, and read the lesson, to complete it.