Why is it that `users` are never satisfied with the tools we make available to them?
And why is it that the adoption process to systems as a whole, always seems to be arduous and painful?
Can someone explain also why sales teams don’t end up often making use of the reports we create for them?
What are the barriers IT departments confront regularly when introducing new tools and systems to its end users?
Probably it‘s because they consider only USERS as a system and not as individuals who are PART of a system. The company is a system, not the individual. The sales team does not consult the reports ….INDIVIDUALS do. Because the tools need to be developed in conjunction WITH them, not in spite of them like it is often accomplished.
Let’s take for example a scenario where the IT department is about to introduce a typical sales dashboard to the sales team to analyze sales results by portfolio, by geography and time hierarchies, etc.. Isn’t that great!! Certainly that should excite the whole team right?
WELL….probably not…. How can you help them solve their specifics issues if you provided them TYPICAL tools. Typical means unspecific, not related to their reality and they will not be prone to accept the added value (even if there is some).
Furthermore, the intro of a new tool or application ends up being at best a cute and novel distraction and at worst an unpleasant break up and disturbance of their work routine.
The Wall of Adoption is sometimes HIGH and WIDE simply because the very idea of it is proposed and/or presented from the wrong perspective and angle. If success is to be ensured, the targeted USERS need to be involved from the start. If they propose certain features deemed useful for them and buy in collectively, there is a very good chance that they will STICK.