Why is User Adoption so Hard?
Most organizations are surprised by how difficult it is to get people to adopt new technology.
The worst mistake people make
The biggest mistake many organizations make is believing that people will have no choice but to adopt a new IT system because it will be mandatory.
Do people assume this in your organization?
You can’t mandate system use
Mandating system use is a common approach that is guaranteed to block the potential value and success of an IT system. The assumption is that if the boss tells them they must do it, then people will do it. Ha!
The truth is that people always have a choice in:
- How they use a system
- When they use it
- How well they use it
- How frequently they use it
Technology introduces LOTS of change!
Many organizations that struggle with adoption have failed to recognize that introducing new technology, even simple systems, creates a ripple effect of change throughout an organization.
Implementing IT systems require changes to:
- Processes and policies
- Roles and responsibilities
- Daily routines and habits
- Performance expectations and evaluations
Manage the changes or else
Unless you identify and proactively manage change before, during, and after go-live, you will not see the levels of user adoption and business outcomes you want.
The IT system on which you spent valuable time and money will end up:
- Sitting idle
- Used in the wrong way
- Barely used
- Have bad data entered
- No data entered
The hidden barriers to success
Most organizations fail to identify real and perceived organizational obstacles to adopting and using new technology because leaders:
- Believe user adoption will “just happen” organically and they don’t need to devote time and resources to drive and sustain adoption
- Don’t know how to identify potential organizational barriers to adoption
- Think they know all the barriers without realizing they probably don’t
- Do not motivate and rewarded people for focusing their efforts on anything beyond quickly getting the system live on time and within budget
Get the right approach to success
Most software projects fail to deliver the expected business outcomes because of the method the buyer takes to getting the system live and driving user adoption.
Many organizations lack the expertise, tools, and capacity to deliver their internal success. You need to move past traditional change management approaches and instead put in place a comprehensive effort focused on long-term, sustained user adoption.
You need to:
- Remove adoption barriers that prevent stakeholders from using IT systems as designed and intended
- Achieve a dramatic increase in adoption rates for IT systems
- Experience significantly faster value creation and benefits realization from IT systems
- Gain a return on your IT system objectives and investments
- Be the role model and hero in your organization for having the knowledge and skills to drive short-term and long-term success with IT systems
When you have the right approach to user adoption, you will find that it is not that hard to deliver success. If you are not getting the results you need, it is time to develop new skills and approaches to solving the problem. You will be amazed at the results.
Resources
Get help
If you are looking to help software buyers create their own internal software success programs, Tri Tuns can help. Contact us to find out what we can do for you.
Free eCourse
This free eCourse: “Why Software Projects Fail…” explains many of the methodological and structural problems organizations face when dealing with software.
User Adoption Mastermind
User Adoption Mastermind teaches you the skills and methods you need to drive and deliver high-impact user adoption programs.
Jason Whitehead
Jason Whitehead, CEO of Tri Tuns and co-founder of Customer Success Mastermind, is a passionate thought leader in the field of customer success and software user adoption. Jason’s 20+ years’ experience leading technology implementation and adoption programs has given him the expertise to help organizations overcome the largest challenge they face — getting people to use technology to deliver results. You can read more at his Software Success Blog.
