communication: Getting to grips with new technology

Sunday, July 24, 2005

Getting to grips with new technology

When a new software program is launched internally, communicators can play a more important role in its successful take-up than simply creating a launch campaign. Betsy Pasley, a senior communicator at a Fortune 200 financial services company in the US, makes the case for getting involved in performance support.

"Over the past decade, I’ve forged a strong belief that communicators can help bridge the technology gap in more ways than just the typical publicity campaign that tells employees how much they should love their new desktops," says Pasley. "We can apply our strong writing and messaging skills to other often untapped areas, such as pop-up windows, error messages and on-screen text."

Pasley shares the following examples of ways to make a difference:

• On-screen text – you may be able to convert programmer jargon into the actual language of your users.
• Workflow e-mails – many applications include automatic e-mail messages, often using standard language for the subject line and body of the message. Change that "Update from server; ID file appended" subject line to "Action needed: employee change approval required" and you’ll make lots of friends.
• Pop-up messages – there may be some leeway with the software provider to make those "Fatal Error; application aborted" messages understandable. I once coerced a client to send brief pop-up messages to employees screens before they received a new software update. It gave them advance notice and provided a link to an overview of the changes.
• Online help – hopefully your help information is already written into the program. But if it isn’t – or it’s written in cryptic terms – you may have a chance to influence or edit for clarity.

A word of warning from Pasley: "While I enthusiastically advocate these approaches and have successfully used them in my client work, it’s important you confirm early on that your IT partner has the flexibility to make changes like this."

Source: The above is an extract from an article appearing in the latest issue of Strategic Communication Management entitled "Time for a Technology Intervention."

Blogged on 10:11 AM by Upay

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