Best Practices

8 Essential Steps to Implement IT Best Practices

In the past, we’ve defined best practices and looked at how they benefit your business. Now let’s talk about how to implement best practices so you’ll start seeing results.

Implementing best practices is just like any other project you take on. Success comes from accounting for every detail. Make sure you have these 8 things covered when implementing best practices in your IT business:

  1. Do Your Homework: What companies come to mind when you think of great employees or stellar customer service? Think about companies both inside and outside your industry that you admire and find out how they do what they do: hire employees, provide customer service, or anything else that catches your attention.
  2. Share Your Information: Make sure your employees understand the best practice you’re implementing―what it is, why it matters, and how they will benefit.
  3. Define Your Metrics: Know what you’re measuring so you can monitor and report on progress. Want to cut response time by two minutes? That’s your metric.
  4. Manage Change: Most people resist change. Make sure you have a plan in place to mitigate people’s fears. This applies to all stakeholders, including customers.
  5. Modify for Your Business: Your business is unique. Don’t be afraid to take the best of what you find and make adjustments to fit your specific needs.
  6. Involve Everyone: Your employees will be most affected by best practice implementation, so make sure they’re on board. Ask for input and be open about feedback.
  7. Align Business and Customer Needs: Even if you call on outside consultants or other experts to help you select and implement best practices, you know your business best. Don’t implement any best practice unless it aligns with your business objectives and customer needs.
  8. Evaluate and Refine: Your work isn’t done once you implement a new best practice. You have to continually evaluate progress even after implementation is over. As your business changes, refine your best practices to make sure your business and customer needs remain aligned.

Growing your business with best practices means happier customers, more productive employees and a better bottom line. Use these 8 tips to streamline best practice implementation, so you’ll see results fast.