User Adoption Insights From Tri Tuns

IT User Adoption – a Question of Motivation

This famous clip from the movie Office Space is a quick reminder of one of the most commonly overlooked issues when implementing IT systems – motivating people to work. And sure, Initech is a fictional company, but it actually resembles a lot of organizations with which I have worked over the years. 

In this scene, the employee Peter Gibbons tells the efficiency consultants how his organization approaches motivation and the impact it has on his work efforts. Does this sound like your organization?


Watch video here.

How do you motivate people to use your IT system?

Whenever you implement an IT system, look at all things affecting employee motivation. Sometimes there are issues with compensation and incentives. Other times the management may actually be demotivating employees. 

As Peter says, “I have 8 different bosses right now…so that means when I make a mistake I have 8 different people coming by to tell me about it. That’s my only motivation – not to be hassled.”

Would WIIFM motivate this employee?

Convention wisdom (which is high on convention, and low on wisdom) often says that when implementing an IT system you should try to “sell people on what’s in it for me”. 

Do you think trying to sell Peter on WIIFM would work in this case? Of course not. There are bigger issues that need to be fixed here. And unless these other items are fixed, WIIFM will not work.

So, what will you do to make sure you have motivated people to use your system? Please share your thoughts and experiences with us on the Customer Success Practitioners group on LInkedIn.



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Flashback: Is Your IT System a Dreamliner? Risk, Governance & ROI Revisited

What a difference a year makes. 

Boeing excels with 787 Dreamliner risk and governance.

In November 2011, I wrote a blog post titled, “Is your IT system a Dreamliner?” discussing how revolutionary advances in technology also introduced new risks that need to be monitored and managed. I also wrote, “Do you think Boeing is going to monitor these risks and take action to mitigate them? You bet they are."

Looks like I was right.

While I am sure Boeing would rather have avoided all the problems they currently face with the 787 Dreamliner, I bet they are very thankful they had the structures, processes, and people in place to effectively manage the problems that have emerged now that their planes are actually being used.

Are you prepared to manage a crisis with your technology?

In my earlier article, I wrote:

“When implementing new IT systems, many organizations focus on getting the system live, but ignore what happens once it is in production. The value of your system – and the risks – only is introduced after the system is live. And they continue over the life of the system. This means that you need to manage the value creation and risk mitigation over the life system.”


This is what happened with the 787 Dreamliner. The plane went through extensive testing and government approval processes, yet the unexpected problems only emerged after the plane was live and being used on a daily basis. Just like with an IT system.

Boeing faced new risks when introducing new technology into their aircraft. Organizations face new and unexpected risks when introducing new IT systems. However, unlike Boeing, most organizations do very little to prepare for and proactively manage their new IT risks. And they do so at their own peril.

Having the right team and protocols in place can mitigate risks and save your project.Do you have the right governance plan in place?

Implementing new systems – regardless of whether it is a proven cloud enterprise system or a custom-built application – introduces new risks and uncertainty into your organization.

For example, “social” applications, collaboration systems, and CRM systems all alter how your staff interacts with each other, with customers, with vendors, and with the public at large. You now have new risks that someone will release sensitive information, say the wrong thing online or fat-finger their touch screen and create a major public relations issue for your organization (can you say “viral”?).

When this happens, you need to have the right team and protocols in place. Do you?

What should you do?

Before you write a single check for a new IT system, map out exactly when you will get your ROI from the system and when new risks will be introduced. By doing this first, you will see that all of the benefits – and risks – happen after the system is live. And that they will continue over the life of the system.

Then, make sure you have people in place who have the formal authority, responsibility, tools, and resources they need to manage all the risks that will emerge over the life of the system. These same people should also be responsible for ensuring systems are fully adopted by end-users and that the organization realizes its full ROI goals.

Where to start? Two tools that can help.

When I talk with people about managing risk and user adoption after a system is live, they typically see the need for doing this. And they typically have no clue about where to begin. They need help.

1. Start with a user adoption strategy and team. By first understanding the issues you face and then identify the methods and infrastructure you need to address them. I recommend that you develop a user adoption strategy. And then consider a tool like MyUserAdoptionPlan.com to help implement the strategy and support your users.

2. Then, add risk and governance tools. There are a lot of risk and governance tools out there that can help. The one that we like best is the suite of tools from Confident Governance. This tool-set, which is built on the force.com platform, is fast and easy to configure and provides a wide range of capabilities to help you define and implement your risk and governance policies. Also, it has very affordable pricing and is within reach of most organizations.

Don’t let your IT system be a Dreamliner

You have invested a lot of time and money in your IT systems. The right systems can take your organization to new heights of success. And it can all go away with just one unexpected problem.

Don’t wait to manage your IT risks. Get started today.



8 Factors to Review BEFORE Investing in CRM

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced new rules for mortgages that will take affect in 2014. An article on CNBC.com reported eight factors the CFPB requires lenders to examine before making a loan. We have previously identified that lenders (and others) should treat their CRM investments with the same care and scrutiny that they do when making loans to others. So, here are 8 factors that you need to consider before investing in CRM systems.

1. Expected ROI over the life of the CRM investment

Don’t just look at implementation costs or total cost of ownership (TCO). Make sure the expected return and lifetime value is both positive and significant enough to warrant the time and effort required to implement and maintain the system. Perform a scenario analysis to weight the expected ROI to adjust for different levels of user adoption. Will this still seem like a good investment if you don’t get effective adoption?

2. Current level of user adoption of existing systems

A good guideline to follow is that just switching to a new system without any focused plan to drive and sustain user adoption of the new technology will result in the same or lower levels of user adoption of the new system. Quite simply, if you have low user adoption today, chances are good that you will have lower user adoption tomorrow, regardless of the IT. (User adoption is a people-based issue.) That is, unless you do something to address this problem.

3. Impact of future changes to users’ jobs and performance requirements

Implementing a CRM system doesn’t make users' jobs easier – it fundamentally changes the jobs. A new CRM can alter job responsibilities and how people spend their time. It changes the skills and competencies they need. In short, it changes performance expectations. Understand the extent of the changes to users jobs and then determine what you need to do to address these changes.

4. Identification of all drivers and barriers to IT user adoption

All too often we see that there are barriers to adoption that prevent people from using the system – even when they want to use it! These organizational barriers take many forms and they lie outside the users ability to control them. Executive action is required to address these items, yet often executives are not even aware that they exist, let alone know that they need to take action.

When starting a CRM implementation, ensure someone is assigned responsibility -- and accountability -- for CRM success.5. Formal assignment of responsibility, authority and accountability for ROI

A senior executive needs to be formally charged with ensuring the CRM investment is a success. This needs to include some very real reward or consequence (such as a major impact to their compensation) for hitting or missing ROI goals for the CRM investment. If you don’t have this, you are sunk.

6. Identification of resources & budget required to drive initial user adoption

Stop thinking that you only need training! Training is necessary, but insufficient, for ensuring CRM success. You need a plan for how you will quickly align users behavior and job performance (using the CRM tool) with organizational goals. If you are only focused on training or go-live focused change management, you are in for trouble.

7. Plan and budget resources for sustaining user adoption over the life of the system

The ROI on a CRM investment is just like the ROI on any 401-K or other financial investment: returns can be up one year and then down the next. So, put a plan in place for how you’ll monitor your CRM ROI and then make adjustments as necessary to get the returns you need.

8. Defined approach for ensuring the CRM system stays relevant

Change doesn't just happen at go-live. Your business will change. Your customers will change. Your workforce will change. The economy, regulatory environment, and competitive landscape will all change. Make sure that your CRM system continues to evolve as your needs change. 

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Sub-Prime CRM? What IT Needs to Learn From the New Mortgage Rules

A recent article on CNBC.com reports that lenders will face new rules for extending credit in January 2014. The rules are an attempt to prevent breakdowns in the financial industry and help ensure that organizations be repaid when they lend money.

There are many lessons here for IT departments (and, arguably, the organization as a whole) before it invests in a CRM System.

New 2014 mortgage rules require lenders consider customers’ ability to repay a loan before extending credit

Yup, at the crux of the regulations, is the idea that lenders need to make sure they will be paid back for any money they lend – before they lend it. Hmmm, that's a bold concept. 
You would think that organizations would not need to be told that before they give away a pile of money they need to be sure they will get it (and more) back. Yet, this happens every day when it comes to organizations deciding how they will invest in CRM systems.

Lenders (and others) need to consider their ability to achieve ROI before investing in CRM systems

Organizations need to treat their CRM investments just like a lender approaches (or will, come January 2014) making a loan. They should:

1. Look at how much money you send out now (license and implementation costs) and how much value demand to get back (increase in sales, decrease in costs, or other measures of ROI on your CRM investment).

2. Critically examine and rate your ability to actually achieve the returns you require (ability to drive and sustain user adoption and benefits realization). 

3. Oh, and depending on the size of the investment, you may require some sort of collateral to help incentivize successful payback of your investment (for CRM investments, this may be tying executive compensation to CRM success).

Many organizations don’t do this – or at least, not really. They may say that they have defined a “business case”, but typically this is a largely fictional piece of work that is not based on a thorough understanding or assessment of the likelihood that the system will actually get adopted and used effectively by end-users. And as we all know, if a system isn’t used, it isn’t delivering any value.

Don’t invest in Sub-Prime CRM.
Require a User Adoption & ROI Plan before you spend a dime on CRM!

Before you write a check for any CRM system, make sure it is worth it. It is better to not make any investment than to throw away a pile of money and waste tons of time on a system that is doomed to failure before it even begins. 
Ask yourself these questions:
1. Is there a written plan for how we will ensure a positive ROI on our CRM investment? 
2. Have we done a thorough analysis to identify all the drivers and barriers that will affect user adoption (and ROI)? 
3. Have we defined exactly what ROI goals must be achieved in what amount of time before we proceed?
4. Is there a single, senior executive who will be held accountable (including having a personal financial stake) for meeting ROI goals on the CRM investment?