Define your test
audience carefully
Experts give a somewhat mixed
picture of what a test audience
should look like. Kath Austin, chief
people and marketing officer at Pizza
Hut, warns that while the temptation
can be to trial new software with “a
cohort of your best performers”, this
might not be representative.
“For this reason we often achieve
better results when the project is
rolled out across our whole
organisation,” she says. “It is
beneficial to involve both supporters
and detractors, software gurus and
those less tech savvy,” agrees
Simpson. Yet, according to McGrath,
a small test audience can sometimes
be best to accurately measure impact.
Keep in close contact with
your vendor
Lee advises that HR stays in contact
with the vendor all the way through
the process. It’s a sentiment shared by
McGrath: “I’ve had some brilliant
successes from a vendor changing my
perspective with case studies and
pushing me to do things differently.”
Don’t:
Forget to manage
end-users’ expectations
“You need to say to people it’s normal
for it to be a bit rocky,” says Mason.
The best strategy to allay any
discomfort is communicating the
value of what you’re hoping to
eventually roll out, she says –
something most organisations
neglect: “My big tip would be having a
social strategy alongside a tech one.”
“Make sure you have a
communications plan ready early,”
advises Paul Burrin, VP of Sage
People. “One of the main success
criteria for any HR software pilot
is adoption.”
Create division when
selecting test employees
It’s not unusual for employees not
chosen for testing to feel hard done
Running a pilot HR Technology Supplement
by. “Where I’ve seen a staged roll-out
work really effectively is in a big
global company,” says Mason.
“Whereas if everyone’s in the same
location, it can feel quite divisive
some receiving it and others not.
People can say ‘I didn’t hit my sales
target because I didn’t have that’.”
Believe everything your
tech provider tells you
To get to the bottom of what’s being
promised, Lee recommends getting
those who will actually be involved
with the tech day-to-day involved in
the tendering process. “Even if what
the vendor has told you about the
benefits is accurate, if it’s not going to
be used, it’s not really helpful,” she
says. “So I’ve tried to get the
recruiters and sourcers involved in
speaking to the vendors upfront.”
Be afraid to extend
the pilot
“We recently ran a pilot that was
going to run for six weeks, but we
extended that because of holidays,”
reports Lee.
“Don’t rush a pilot,” advises
Burrin. “Make sure the team has the
time to make it successful.”
Aim for perfection in the
pilot phase
For Stephen Kelly, VP and CHRO at
IBM Global Business Services, HR
should follow Agile, design thinking
methodology when trialling new
tech. “We need HR to become more
comfortable with minimum viable
products,” he says. “There’s no point
spending six months because the
business is going faster and we need
to get ahead of it.”
Be afraid to scrap the tech
“If after 30 days of working in an
Agile way there’s no progress, it’s
either the wrong project or the wrong
people,” Kelly continues.
Mason agrees: “For a pilot to be a
pilot there has to be a possibility you
wouldn’t go for the tech.” HR
It is beneficial
to involve
both
supporters
and
detractors
hrmagazine.co.uk October 2019 HR 29
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