At Provet Cloud, we understand that a digital transformation project is a significant undertaking.
Our clients also understand the pressing need for change, but are often deterred by the sheer complexity of the project itself.
A recurring theme, especially when we partner with large veterinary groups, has been outlining our approach to change management, which is a framework that Provet Cloud has developed over many years of delivering enterprise projects successfully.
We believe the most important aspect of implementing our software is to ensure that your staff buy into the process and are excited about the transformation journey ahead. So we have created a customer-centric set of shared processes which represent some of the additional value that we offer and should help you to evaluate the support that you’ll need from your chosen software partner when embarking on such a project.
Our Change Framework is comprised of five key components:
- Gaining key stakeholder buy-in and maintaining engagement
- Assessing and understanding the impact of change
- Tailoring messaging based on the audience
- Creating a structured change journey
- Developing a training strategy based on the users’ needs
1. Gain key stakeholder buy-in and maintain engagement
Although your senior team will be committed to this vital project as part of your transformation strategy, it is important to collaborate to build awareness and engagement across the business throughout the project lifecycle. The entire organization will be impacted by this change, so by aligning with key stakeholders from each area, we can champion the positive outcomes and keep them updated on progress.
To accomplish this goal, our delivery team engages with steering groups from the business that consist of individuals who can speak with authority on behalf of the clinical and operational teams they represent. We recommend this approach to facilitate our “discovery” process, where we collaborate closely with these teams and process owners in order to understand how to configure best-practice clinical workflows.
One of the ways we achieve this is by developing “journey maps” for each user persona (veterinarian, practice manager, veterinary technician, care team) as an output from our scoping process. These help to strengthen our training delivery by drawing our attention to high-impact workflow changes that must receive extra attention, while helping to develop messaging on the value Provet Cloud will bring (e.g. the time savings that we’ll be able to deliver).
2. Assessing the impact of change
A new practice management system will affect the entire organization, so we feel it's important to carefully consider the impact of the changes, such as how it may alter day-to-day tasks and workflows, with the goal of facilitating a smooth transition to any revised way of working.
This can be seen by capturing an assessment of the change impact when visiting the practices – all part of our discovery engagement to host and shadow the work of different user personas. Information gathered from these sessions is documented as a “change impact log” which is reviewed by our steering groups to ensure our training programs are designed around the user personas and their roles and requirements.
3. Tailored messaging based on audience
Although not a groundbreaking insight, we’ve learned that resistance to a new practice management system can often be traced back to a lack of communication, as with any other change project. Therefore, our framework tries to facilitate a cadence of tailored messaging designed to engage and inform your teams.
There’s a number of ways to do this, and we want to support those “change agents” who are the practice employees that will adopt the new ways of working earlier than others, and who can actively encourage and support others. These people are chosen because they are your group’s trailblazers and most open to change.
By engaging with the initial locations along with key stakeholders, we can generate positive news from our quick wins that are normally available for building success stories and confidence when adopting a modern PIMS solution. We then collaborate on formats through which to share progress milestones and good news, such as monthly newsletters, video testimonials, practice case studies, user spotlights, and drop-in sessions.
4. Create a roadmap for change
Related to our messaging, we’ll work alongside you to create a structured “roadmap” that outlines the change journey. This provides a high-level view of our joint milestones and how we’ll measure success along the way. Depending on the audience, this can take the form of a project charter-style document, or it can be more of a project compass that provides an indication of intent and the timescales involved, depending on your group’s needs and the message you’d like to convey.
This serves as an outline of the activities required for each stakeholder group, which may also be mapped around the key user profiles involved in the change at the practice level.
5. Develop training programs based on user needs
Finally comes the crucial topic of training and adoption. We recommend a blended approach to any training delivery in order to support different learner preferences and to minimize the impact on frontline staff when trying to navigate the day-to-day challenges of busy practice life.
With access to a comprehensive “e-learning academy,” Provet Cloud provides on-demand learning from our product experts, which is designed to empower your teams with the skills and confidence to adopt their new ways of working. Although it's possible to deliver fully remote projects, we feel strongly that the veterinary profession is a face-to-face industry and that there are many benefits to in-person training and support, especially on key milestones like a practice going live and using the new system “in real life” to deliver their first patient care.
But any training program will be bespoke for the organization that we’re partnering with to ensure that it is fit for purpose. Beyond this, it's important for your internal group to become self-sufficient, gaining the skills and confidence necessary to make changes to your configuration when the project has been successfully delivered.
A valuable aspect of our approach to delivering enterprise projects has been the formation and training of a group of “superusers” and internal PIMS champions. In order to create these superstars, we try to engage them throughout the configuration process by allowing them to shadow our efforts and the decisions involved. Their “peering behind the curtain” becomes an effective way to ensure knowledge transfer is also built into our project delivery.
Key Takeaways
-
Successful digital transformation requires strong change management – Implementing a new practice management system is a major shift, and securing staff buy-in is critical to success.
-
Engaging key stakeholders is essential – Involving clinical and operational representatives early helps champion the project, streamline workflows, and address challenges proactively.
-
Assessing impact and tailoring communication improves adoption – Understanding how changes affect daily tasks and crafting audience-specific messaging reduces resistance and fosters engagement.
-
A structured roadmap guides the transition – Defining clear milestones and success measures ensures smooth implementation and aligns all stakeholders on the journey.
- Effective training supports long-term success – A mix of e-learning, hands-on sessions, and “superuser” training empowers teams to confidently adopt and optimize the new system.
Is your organization ready for digital transformation?
Schedule a demo with Provet Cloud to learn how our platform is built to centralize operations throughout the enterprise, enable deeper insights, and help you grow.
