Key points for having a successful international rollout

We checked: the word rollout has at least three different meanings. If you’re thinking of the implementation of international software in a new country or region for an existing client, then you’re in the right place. Check out some key pieces of advice for a successful rollout from the guy with the beard sitting at the corner of our office – Vlado (more info about him at the end of the article).

Plan well

The implementation of software concerns each aspect of your business and is a complicated process. Plan diligently. Work it out in your mind. Work it out in a brainstorming with your advisors, partners and key employees. Small businesses aren’t immune to big problems.

When you’re implementing software in a B2B company, the document flow is relatively small and so is the stress for the end users of the system (otherwise put, it’s a different type of stress). If a given invoice has a typo, it can always be exported in Word and the typo can be fixed manually. But if you are a B2C business that has a line of angry customers waiting, you won’t have the opportunity to export receipts.

If there’s a problem in the production environment, things could get bad quick. Plan well ahead, so you can implement something useful for both your employees and your clients.

“When we were working on the implementation for the printers of a client of ours in Israel, he had confirmed the items will be written in English. However, when the time came and we were about to open a brand new store, it became clear the item descriptions are in Hebrew and the whole receipt design went to hell. Such a major change at the last moment increased the stress and the risk that the project’s start would be successful. At the same time, this was something that could have been easily avoided, had some steps been taken in the beginning,” shared Vlado.

Don’t forget the documentation

This is one of the most important points for a successful project. If it looks like an annoying routine job, that’s because it is. It isn’t exciting, but it’s necessary. And you shouldn’t underestimate it, because it could spare you some serious expenses and headaches in the long term. Document everything you do in detail and enter any corrections in the documentation as soon as you’ve uploaded said fixes to the software. Here’s what Vlado had to say about this:

„The curious case of Benjamin Button is no match for the curious case of mix-match promotions in Serbia. A few years after a successful implementation of our solution, 25+ working stores and millions of clothes sold, something special happened. This something special cause quite the turmoil, because the fiscal printer was crashing. It happened rarely, it was impossible to simulate and was a bug that presented itself as a magic trick. It ended up being a badly documented change of a seemingly unconnected functionality.”

You can read part two of our conversation with Vlado here. Meanwhile find out a bit more about who he is:

Vlado has 10 years of experience integrating Microsoft’s business products. He has implemented Dynamics NAV and AX in more than 30 countries, which perfectly combines with his love of travel and his thirst for coffee. Wise as an old rat, Vlado has been around and can give advice, in his calm manner, both for a trial balance error and for a nice downhill trail for the weekend.