With any important technology initiative, such as launching a new collaboration platform, user adoption is vital to success. When such a project fails to take root in the organizational culture, often it’s because user adoption was an afterthought, when it should have been tied to strategic goals from the start. An attitude of “build it and they will come” is a recipe for disaster. Instead, organizations need to be proactive about user adoption, starting with identifying internal champions for the technology project.
These natural promoters of technology are essential for creating the culture that supports user adoption. At many organizations, potential technology champions are fairly easy to identify. They’re involved in extracurricular professional events, they always show up for activities and they’re among the first to adopt new technologies. Personality-wise, they’re open to change and enthusiastic about progressive technology and its impact on business. That type of person is simply invaluable.
If you plan to release a new social or collaboration platform, try to identify these potential champions early on, and make sure they reflect several different areas of the organization. In addition to IT leaders, business stakeholders and front-line users should be involved in the process. Getting these people involved early on in the design process helps you establish them as authorities and resources for the organization.
User adoption is especially challenging when dealing with collaboration solutions, for a couple of reasons. First, there’s the problem of changing software that integrates a huge variety of everyday tasks and specialized functions across an organization.
Most groups leverage collaboration software effectively for document management, but may run into trouble when attempting to integrate that with calendaring, email and other functions. Microsoft Outlook, for example, provides integrated calendaring and email, and many people are accustomed to the layout and check these items habitually. But when combined with SharePoint, the calendars don’t tie in as naturally with Outlook, and so these functions are less frequently used or leveraged.
The other challenge with enterprise collaboration tools is that they also change how people work. When implemented correctly, a collaboration platform improves information retention, strengthens security and streamlines content management. But collaboration solutions need to be tailored to your user base and how it works if you want success with user adoption. The goal is to help people in your organization run projects, store information and collaborate with each other, not bring these processes to a grinding halt.
That’s why it’s especially valuable to have people scattered throughout the organization who are excited about the technology initiative and have insights into the reasoning behind system design choices. As you’re building up their understanding of the platform, you also gain access to their institutional knowledge. This helps you to understand how the new technology is likely to affect them and their colleagues.
As the technology initiative unfolds, these early champions serve as advocates for the new platform, and help other colleagues deal with change.
