Making the decision to move from a manual paper-based inspection and audit program to a software managed program can be easy one to make but should not be taken lightly. In our experience, the organizations that succeed the most with inspection and audit software are those who plan for the transition and carefully plan for success.

Here are four common success factors we see:

1. Never losing track of the human factor

The most successful implementations understand the staff most impacted by the move to audit and inspection software are exactly those who are likely to feel threatened by it. It isn’t uncommon for users to have emotional reactions because they are intimidated by using mobile devices and fear the unknown.

2. Commit to training (and re-training)

Training is crucial to ensuring your audit and inspection software implementation is a success. The most successful organizations conduct formal training with all users and assign super-users who can learn the software and understand it well enough to coach others. In addition, they spend one-on-one time with operators who are the most intimidated by software or are finding the new way difficult.

3. Take a pragmatic approach

Even the best planned implementations experience an unexpected user issue or delay. The key is to be flexible and manage the surprises without letting them get you off track entirely.

4. Solidify your processes

Audit and inspection software can only add limited efficiency to poorly designed processes. Hoping software will be the silver bullet for a manual inspection program that doesn’t work is not being realistic.  

5. Exhibit strong leadership

If all of the above success factors are in place it probably means you are exhibiting strong leadership. It can’t be understated how important it is to have leadership that understand the move to software isn’t just about an alternative method to conducting inspections and audits as much as it is a signal that audits and inspections are an important part of the business and the organization is willing to invest resources to ensure they are done well.

The bottom line:

Try a sample of The Checker Software to see for yourself what we’re talking about.