How Do You Get People to Adopt a New System? Change Management for Technology Projects
People adopt new systems when they understand why the change matters, are involved early, are trained in their real roles and see leaders using the system themselves. Change management is a workstream that runs from day one, not a training session before go-live.
Written and reviewed by The Technology Office ยท Independent technology advisory
Key takeaways
- Adoption is the point of a technology project; plan and fund change management from the start.
- Map who is affected and how, then tailor communication and support to each group.
- Super users and role-based training close to go-live are more effective than generic training sessions.
- Measure adoption with real usage data and act on it, rather than declaring success at go-live.
The short answer
People adopt a new system when they understand why it matters to them, have a hand in shaping it, are trained in their actual role close to go-live, and see their own managers using it. Change management is therefore a funded workstream that starts on day one, not a training session squeezed in before cutover. A technically perfect system that staff work around in spreadsheets has not delivered.
Why does adoption deserve its own plan?
Every business case for a new system assumes people will use it as intended. Faster month-end, better forecasting or improved customer service only appear if staff enter data properly, follow new processes and stop relying on old workarounds. That behaviour change is the real deliverable.
Technology teams naturally focus on configuration, integration and testing. Without someone explicitly responsible for the people side, it gets left until the final weeks, when there is little time or budget to do it well.
Step 1: Understand who is affected and how
Start with a simple impact assessment. For each group, ask what changes for them and how much.
| Group | What changes | Likely concerns | Support needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frontline staff | Daily screens, data entry, process steps | Speed, competence, extra workload | Hands-on training, floor support |
| Team leaders | Approvals, reporting, team performance | Losing visibility during transition | Early access, dashboards, talking points |
| Finance and admin | Reconciliations, month-end, controls | Errors, audit trail | Detailed process guides, parallel checks |
| Executives | Reporting and decision data | Disruption to operations | Clear milestones and risk visibility |
| Customers or suppliers | Portals, invoices, communication | Confusion, service disruption | Advance notice and clear instructions |
The groups with the largest change and the least say in the decision usually need the most attention.
Step 2: Explain the why, specifically
Generic messages like 'the new system will make us more efficient' do not persuade anyone. Be specific about what improves for each group: 'You will no longer re-key orders from email into two systems' or 'Job costs will be visible the day after a job closes, not a month later.'
Be honest about what gets harder, too. If a step now takes longer because it captures better data, say so and explain why. Credibility lost early is hard to win back.
Step 3: Involve people before go-live
Involvement builds ownership. Practical ways to do it:
- Include frontline representatives in requirements and design workshops
- Ask experienced staff to write and run user acceptance test scenarios
- Run short 'show and tell' sessions as the system takes shape
- Collect and visibly respond to feedback, including explaining why some requests were declined
A staff member who helped design a process is far more likely to defend it to colleagues.
Step 4: Build a super user network
Super users are respected team members who receive deeper training and act as the first point of help in their area. They are particularly valuable because colleagues will ask them questions they would never log as a support ticket.
To make the network work:
- Choose people who are credible with peers, not just available
- Free up some of their time, and make it part of their role
- Involve them in testing so they know the system well before go-live
- Give them a direct line to the project team for issues they cannot solve
Step 5: Train in role, close to go-live
Training delivered weeks before go-live is mostly forgotten by the time it is needed. Effective training is:
- Role-based: built around the tasks each person actually performs
- Scenario-driven: using realistic examples, ideally with familiar data
- Timed close to go-live: with short refreshers available afterwards
- Supported by quick-reference guides: one-page job aids beat long manuals
Step 6: Lead from the top
Staff watch what leaders do. If the sales director still asks for the pipeline in a spreadsheet, the CRM is optional. If the operations manager runs the daily meeting from the new dashboard, it becomes the source of truth. Agree in advance which meetings, reports and decisions will run from the new system, and when old reports will be switched off. Our guide to choosing a CRM shows why this matters so much for sales systems in particular.
Step 7: Support, measure and reinforce after go-live
The first weeks after go-live shape lasting habits. Provide visible floor support, daily check-ins and fast fixes for irritations. Then measure adoption using real data:
- Proportion of transactions processed in the new system
- Active users by team
- Support requests by theme, trending down over time
- Evidence of workarounds, such as shadow spreadsheets
Where adoption lags, find out why. It may be a training gap, a genuine system issue or a process that does not suit the work. Fix the cause rather than issuing reminders. For broader programmes, adoption metrics belong on the digital transformation roadmap alongside delivery milestones.
Signs your change effort is falling short
- Staff first see the system at training
- Communication is a single all-staff email from IT
- Managers are not briefed before their teams
- No one can say how adoption will be measured
- Super users are nominated in the final fortnight
Adoption as a leadership responsibility
The Technology Office treats adoption as a core outcome of every programme we lead through our technology and systems transformation service. As independent, owner-side leaders who sell no software and take no implementation margin, we are accountable for benefits being realised, not just for a system going live. Adoption targets and readiness criteria are set at the outset and become decision gates for go-live.
We work with businesses of any size and industry across Australia, often alongside a fractional COO where process and operating changes are as significant as the technology itself. Read more on how this fits into delivery in our ERP implementation guide.
Frequently asked questions
What is change management in a technology project?
It is the structured work of preparing, supporting and equipping people to use a new system and adopt new ways of working. It covers stakeholder analysis, communication, involvement, training, support and reinforcement after go-live.
Why do employees resist new systems?
Common reasons include not understanding why the change is needed, fear of losing competence or control, extra workload during transition, and poor experiences with past projects. Most resistance is a signal of unmet needs rather than stubbornness.
When should change management start?
It should start when the project starts, ideally before system selection. Involving users in defining requirements and testing builds ownership and surfaces practical issues early.
How do you measure user adoption of a new system?
Use system data such as active users, transactions processed in the system, and use of workarounds like spreadsheets, combined with support ticket trends and short user surveys. Compare results against targets set before go-live.
Mentioned services
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