"The key for us was to present the benefits of online - in terms of speed, marketing, reduced admin etc - early and to the right people.
The people we presented to were critical to the adoption of the new ASP - the HR director, and all the heads of HR and Recruitment Managers across the whole group.
We then agreed the plan in a very long one-day tender meeting with all suppliers and internal stakeholders present.
Senior management support?
Senior management were largely supportive, once clear arguments were communicated. But before we could convince them, we had to first be convinced ourselves, ie not
just recite the benefits, but fully understand them, and then be able to communicate them in a way that senior management expect.
Biggest barriers?
We found that people generally had two major concerns. The first was that individual budgets had already been committed to other development. But by presenting
the aggregate value of working together, we were able to show it by far outweighed what any one attraction could do independently.
The second was worry about the additional workload when teams were already working at capacity. This highlighted the importance of being able to show them
very quick wins from the system in terms of time saved and capacity released.
Key learning points?
Most of our learning points are focused around the user. Since they've been using the system, users in some of the attractions have been a bit put off having to
use technology. As a result, we've learned that what may appear the most insignificant issue in theory, eg internet links, can waylay implementation in practice. Specific
learning points have been:
- users need a high degree of focus and regular support
- listening to and acting on feedback is so important; it's not enough to note users' experience - you've got to change the system to reflect their needs
- and make sure internet links are reliable and quick
Even then, of course, there was still no guarantee it would work...! But we certainly feel we improved the odds with our policy of consultation, consultation, consultation."
