user-adoption

4 tips to train your way out of user adoption woes

In an increasingly complex and competitive marketplace, change comes as standard. Companies will either embrace new technology to help drive down costs and exploit opportunities, or they’ll face ruin. It’s as simple as that.

 

Or is it? Understanding the need to transform the business and making it happen are two very different things.

 

Let’s take an example. In March 2020, this niche internal chat tool had 20m users. Fast forward 16 months and it has become the backbone of remote working for thousands of businesses around the globe, with a staggering 150m people relying on it to do their jobs.

 

Most are already using it for video calls and chat, and it integrates beautifully with Sharepoint and other business-critical apps. Why on earth wouldn’t you add voice functionality to let staff speak to each other and customers?

 

In theory, it’s a no-brainer to make Microsoft Teams the sole communications platform for employees.

 

In practice, however, projects like this are rarely straightforward. You need to get everyone on board, from CEO to intern. Integration teething problems can leave you in deep water. How many IT projects have crashed on the rocks of poor user adoption? (no more nautical metaphors I promise!).

 

A recent survey of senior business leaders revealed that 70% of all digital transformation initiatives fail to reach their goals. To put a figure on it, that’s $900m of the $1.3 trillion so far spent.

 

For more wince-inducing evidence, just look to the UK government. In 2013 an NHS patient record system was abandoned having cost the taxpayer more than £10 billion.

 

Let’s be clear. This is not an excuse to shelve your plans. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it lasted 1000 years and ruled much of the world. The point is not to afraid of change, but to be mindful of its challenges.

What hinders end user adoption?

We’ll assume you’ve accepted the case for change (in our example, the benefits of switching from old fashioned PBX telephony to an integrated, cloud-based communications system with Teams at its heart).

 

Let’s agree that you have the right objectives and are using them as a touchstone for everything that follows. You’ve figured out what success looks like and have metrics in place to inform the project build and evaluation.

 

We’ll also take it as read that implementation has gone without a hitch. It obviously helps if you’ve partnered with a supplier that is driven by your commercial needs as much as your technical brief.

So what else might go wrong?

1. Old habits die hard.
Some people just don’t like change. Maybe they’re set in their ways and honestly don’t see how the new system could be better. Or perhaps they’re frightened – of losing their job; of not understanding new tech; of looking a fool in front of their friends and colleagues.

2. They’re too busy.

Getting to know a new system takes time. You can’t charge for it and it won’t get you closer to your quarterly objectives. That on its own is enough reason for some to skip the training and ignore the emails.

3. Poor communication.

If you’ve ever tried getting a kid to tidy their room you’ll know the key to successful transformation is clear communication that’s early and often. Too few companies take the time to explain why change is necessary, and what’s in it for those who embrace it.

4. Boring training.

There’s nothing more likely to derail end user adoption than a one-size-fits all approach to training. Especially when that size is ‘dull and uninspiring’.

Getting training right

We’ve trained hundreds of users at dozens of companies. It’s an essential part of our offering, because no one wins if a project is imposed against the wishes of the users it’s supposed to help.

 

Our goal is to ensure every individual user is able to use all of the functionality of Microsoft Teams, including voice, in the way that works best for them.

 

Here are a few techniques we’ve had a lot of success with over the years.

 

Focus on business outcomes

 

Your provider should offer a bespoke course based on your individual business. Starting with the commercial outcomes you’re expecting, the training should teach employees how voice-enabled Teams can boost their own productivity and results.

 

Super training for project champions

 

We pride ourselves on delivering great content in a way that’s engaging, even fun. Yet we’re no match for the right trainer inside the business. If there’s a colleague who can communicate the benefits of voice-enabled Teams and explain how to use it, our job is to give him or her the right tools and get out the way.

 

Bespoke training for different roles

 

People will use new systems in different ways. When it comes to voice-enabled Teams, receptionists, admin assistants and salespeople are likely to be the heaviest users. So we’ll design course content specifically for them, leaving other colleagues to attend a simpler, less intensive session.

 

On demand learning

 

Transforming the way a business communicates with itself and the outside world is pretty important. A big change. So why would you adopt a ‘one-and-done’ approach to user training?

 

It’s important to offer refreshers for those that need it, or provide new content when the service is upgraded or new features come online. New starters should also have a series of on-demand ‘clip’ training sessions available as part of their on-boarding.

 

Successful change management extends way beyond training. We’ve outlined a just a few other potential obstacles above. Each of these requires a thoughtful, sophisticated approach – plus investment in time and resources – to overcome.

 

But in our experience, training has an oversized impact on end user adoption. By providing quality, bespoke courses that recognize the needs of individual groups of users you can go a long way to ensuring a successful outcome.

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