Many many years ago we installed a document management system in the accounts department of a local authority. It was in the days when digital transformation was in its infancy. We integrated the platform with their accounts application such that department staff could view scanned purchase invoices alongside the corresponding purchase ledger screen. The installation was successful and users started scanning their purchase invoices to the content platform following entry of details into the purchase ledger.
Some time after the installation we contacted the newly created scanning department and spoke to the employee who we had trained to use the scanner and who was therefore scanning the purchase invoices. This was a courtesy call to check that there were no problems and the system was working as expected. They said it was all working fine but continued “although I’m not really sure why I’m bothering though as they’re not really using it”. We were puzzled and on further questioning it turned out that once the invoices had been scanned, stored to the document management system, the finance employees then continued to file the physical documents in exactly the same place as before – users just continued to tread that well-worn path to the filing cabinet when a document review was required. Old habits die hard!
Whilst the users had been shown how they could now access the invoices from within the purchase ledger finance application, no-one
Eventually someone did lock the cabinet and of course, with a little extra encouragement, the department users soon got used to the new technology and within a few months they started to wonder how they had managed without it.
We are all creatures of habit and cherish life in our comfort zones – any change we see as a threat. The lesson here is that sometimes we need to be “persuaded” – encouraged to see that there are actually better ways to do things that will make our lives easier because we can’t always see this so easily from our bubble! As we say in the UK – can’t see the wood for the trees!
Mike Coulthard, Managing Director. July 2022
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