1. Obtain an active executive sponsor. Explicitly ask that person for active support. Introducing change is like any other project -- you need support from the top.

2. Find the maven. Besides an executive sponsor, you need to find a technology maven, someone within the company who understands the new technology. A maven, as defined in Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point, is a person who has both information and the social skills to pass it along. The good news is that every company has one somewhere, and he is generally well known. The challenge in a situation such as this one is that the maven might be outside of IT.

3. Identify key stakeholders. A few groups are certain to be more negatively affected by the change than others. The executive sponsor can identify these groups, and the maven can identify their spokesmen. The spokesmen become the key stakeholders, whose concerns will be the focus of the sales pitch. It's a good idea to take the key stakeholders out for lunch or coffee, to give them a chance to voice all of their concerns.

4. Develop the sales pitch. The information from the executive sponsor, the maven and the key stakeholders builds the sales pitch. The executive sponsor can advise what format the company expects, such as a one-page summary or a detailed PowerPoint presentation. Developing a three-sentence elevator pitch for gaining stakeholders' support also helps. The first sentence starts, "Did you know about ..." and ends with a description of the change. The second sentence begins, "This is really exciting because ..." and ends with a technical benefit. The third sentence starts with the stakeholder's concern and ends with the executive sponsor's key benefit: "I know that this will create ... for ... but once this is done we'll. ..." The sound bite will help sell the marginally involved on the change.

5. Develop internal allies. You should provide a draft of the sales pitch to your executive sponsor, the maven and the key stakeholders and rewrite it until you have their full support.