Where Does End-User Adoption Start?
This April, we're putting the focus on conversations in the Driving Adoption community. We kick off the discussion with insights from Microsoft research we conducted on IT Pros. Where Does End-User Adoption Start? End-user adoption is clearly top of mind. In our research last year, 87% of IT Pros said that driving Office 365 end-user adoption was a priority initiative in the next two years. But “adoption” refers to a wide-range of actions – some of which occur before you even deploy a new product. We asked IT Pros what adoption actions either their organizations or they, as individuals, were involved in. High-maturity cloud companies (companies with 6+ products in the cloud) were more likely to engage in pre-deployment adoption activities. Already deployed? There are still plenty of actions you can take now! In April, we’ll be discussing end-user adoption best practices, success stories, sharing resources, and answering your questions. We’ll elaborate on the actions we listed above and open the conversation to discuss any challenges/questions you have on the community! What adoption actions do you or your organization take? When did the conversation around end-user adoption start? Read these other posts featured during 'End User Adoption' month: Case Study #1: Adoption as a Marketing Campaign Case Study #2: Outsourcing Adoption Case Study #3: Organic Discovery vs Forced Adoption Friday Feature: NunoAriasSilva: 'The biggest challenge in customers adopting new technologies is helping them understand the value of technology by its features compared to its price. Some customers only upgrade their systems by feature by end of support.' Read his interview here. John White: 'If users can't see value immediately, we need to be able to demonstrate the value of a platform in order to overcome this skepticism, or resistance to change.' Read his interview here. DeletedUser2246: 'The main way I work to influence the skeptics to change is to find at least one or two little things that annoy them and make it better.' Read his interview here. Deleted: 'I make complicated things simple, relatable, and sometimes even fun. That’s been my reason for existing as a communications and change manager for more than 20 years.' Read her interview here. The Irony of Change: Think much has changed since 1985? Think again. How Do You Measure Adoption Success? Useful resources on adoption metrics. Expanding the IT Skill Toolbox: Change Management Skills. A post from a previous month's theme of IT Career Skills but relevant to this month's theme. Office 365 Adoption Guide: Matt Wolodarsky shares a useful adoption resource from Microsoft. When Adoption Goes Wrong: The community shares stories to help you learn what not to do when it comes to driving adoption. Getting Creative with Adoption: Some cool and sometimes unconventional ways people have driven adoption in their organization. Consumer vs Enterprise Adoption: Interesting post from Simon Terry highlighting the different approaches. The Growing Interest in End User Adoption: Blog post from Debbie Arbeeny from the Skype for Business team about the expansion in focus on end user adoption. Connecting with People to Drive Adoption: Sharon Liu explores three ways you might engage users in driving adoption. Reimagine the Workplace with Office 365: Cian Allner shares 360 degree videos showcasing collaboration, analytics and security in the modern workplace using Office 365 from the Microsoft Canada Customer Immersion Experience. Save Save Save SaveDriving Adoption Friday Feature: Loryan Strant
We are very excited to introduce this week’s Friday Feature— DeletedUser2246. Loryan recently started his own consultancy, The Cloud Mouth, aimed at helping companies through their cloud transformations. He has received 6 MVP Awards in Office Servers and Services. MVP Profile LinkedIn Blog Twitter Tell us a little bit about who you work for and your role in the organization. I've recently upgraded The Cloud Mouth from being my persona to a bona fide consultancy. I work with customers to determine their Office 365 strategy either pre or post sale, especially for those who have only deployed basic workloads like Exchange Online or OneDrive for Business. My goal is to achieve true productivity transformations for organisations and users. What’s the most rewarding part of a cloud transformation? Seeing users improve their day to day work lives is the most rewarding aspect of a cloud transformation. People have gotten so used to the way they work for so many years that change is frightening, but seeing how they become more productive and collaborative across a variety of little or large ways is really enjoyable. How do you handle the skeptics/’sticks in the mud’? Can you share any best practices for encouraging end-user adoption? I view all users on a spectrum. You can’t please everyone all the time, so my best practice is to identify the range of the spectrum and to work to getting the change to only be 20-30% away from those who are sticks in the mud. From there we’ve covered most users, and those that are hardest to change have less ground to cover. The main way I work to influence the skeptics to change is to find at least one or two little things that annoy them and make it better. Even if it’s cutting down a few clicks or speeding up a process, that creates a win and opens them up to the possibility of more improvements. My aim is to make everyone a “raving fan”. What resources do you use the most to stay up to date? How do you keep up with new technologies and updates? My morning routine involves reading through a plethora of blogs in my aggregator service Feedly. A lot I will skip over as I may already know them, but I do read a lot. Luckily I’m a speed reader so that cuts down the time to consume content. Usually when I first sit down at my computer my “work” morning routine involves trawling through Tech Community and various Yammer networks. Beyond that if I need to attend a webinar or watch videos I’ll carve out some time through the day, get cosy on the couch and set myself to Do Not Disturb. I find the content on http://reoffice365.com a great way to keep up to date from though leaders in the field. 😊 IT Pro Communities are highly engaged and seem to play a large role in IT Pros careers. Can you share how these communities have helped your career and your motivation for keeping up with your own blog and giving back to the community? I’ve been using communities since the early days of the Internet, be it IRC or bulletin boards. It’s been a great way to find experts and tips & tricks that you may not find elsewhere. Since the early days of BPOS I have been actively involved in the community and it’s actually that community I thank for nominating and supporting me in becoming a MVP. I’m a big believer in community and people helping each other out, so that powers me to keep sharing knowledge and content with those who choose to follow and engage with me. What’s the most interesting thing about you that we wouldn’t learn from your resume alone? I used to be an avid hiker, mountain climber, have long hair, and frequently enjoy mosh pits. 😊The Irony of Change
While technology has evolved dramatically overtime, the approach to change management around implementing new technology, ironically, seems to have stayed relatively constant. In 1985, the Harvard Business Review published an article titled “Implementing New Technology.” Although the technology referenced in the article is outdated; the concepts surrounding the challenges of rolling out and driving adoption, as well as the strategies used to address these challenges strike a very similar chord as strategies used today—including taking on a marketing approach, like we discussed in a post last week. Here are some of the quotes that resonated with us the most from the article: “New technologies, no matter what their origin, confront managers with a distinct set of challenges” “Generally, when technology is rolled out, it is handed off between organizations, but the runners should have been running in parallel for a long time” “Think of implementation as an internal marketing, not selling, job…selling starts with a finished product; marketing, with research on user needs and preferences” “The organizational hills are full of managers who believe that an innovation’s technical superiority and strategic importance will guarantee acceptance” “An innovation needs a champion to nurture it, and any new technology capable of inspiring strong advocacy will also provoke opposition.” Implementation Paradox: “The higher the organizational level at which managers define a problem, the greater the probability of successful implementation. However, the closer the definition and solution of problems or needs are to end-users, the greater the probability of success” Sound familiar? Do you agree that the principles of change are relatively constant? Do the change management principles shared in the article still apply today?How do you measure adoption success?
How do you measure adoption success? In the FastTrack Office 365 Adoption Guide, Microsoft lays out an end-to-end view of a successful Office 365 rollout. One of the key steps in the FastTrack deployment guide is defining what success looks like and defining measurable goals accordingly. Phase 3 of the FastTrack Adoption Guide - Drive Value involves resources and advice around measuring success. As FastTrack indicates “driving adoption is a continuous cycle that doesn’t end after launch or measuring impact.” With that in mind, the metrics and resources discussed below are meant to be tracked over time to ensure continuous use and added value to the business. Here are some of the Adoption Measurement Resources that can help guide you in defining success and tracking adoption after rollout. 1. Microsoft’s Measuring Success Guide 2. Sample User Satisfaction Surveys – While quantitative metrics undoubtedly are a strong way to measure usage rates and ROI, qualitative end-user satisfaction surveys are another valuable way to collect information around adoption. User surveys are a means to gather quotes and more personalized evidence of the success of a deployment. Surveys also make end-users feel more involved in the solution process. Providing a clear picture of business impact, specifically related to ROI, can be a daunting task as Office 365 impacts many areas across the business. The resources above can help you think through both how to gauge adoption at an individual end-user level and on a broader scale understand how O365 is adding business value. Want to learn more about adoption metrics? Check out these links: · New Office 365 Adoption Resources (Jim Dubois Webinar) · O365 Admin Center - Reporting Portal
