Customer success is all about engagement and adoption when acquiring new applications for your users. Sometimes the benefits and the value of the new tools people are being introduced to are not obvious. The company’s IT department is acquiring software for the good of the business but it requires adoption by employees to make it successful. The success of anything most of the time is based on how it’s presented.
In this article we are going to present some key points that can help you successfully introduce new technology in your business.
What is your definition of success? Who can claim success?
Work with key stakeholders to define what success will be when the technology is introduced to the business and how it will be recognized. Who will be able to claim that the technology is a success in the business? The definition of success must answer the ‘why’ questions. Why is it being successful? Why is the technology being used? Why is it beneficial to the business – where is the value?
Focal points in usage
This is like an elevator pitch. What are we focused on? Imagine that the technology you are introducing in the business is one that you developed and that you are selling. Your elevator pitch will describe the value the technology is bringing to the business. It needs to describe how employees will play their role in making the business successful using the technology.
Expected benefits
The expected benefits of the technology is typically owned by key stakeholders. They in turn can articulate the benefits to respective teams in terms that resonate with their business function. For the IT department the expected benefits of an enterprise file sync and share technology might be:
- Eliminate overage of storage on email servers
- Reduce employee inbox size by reducing the amount of attached files in the inbox
- Eliminate issues with undeliverable emails due to large file attachments
- Eliminate the need to buy more storage for email servers and reduce cost of backup storage and maintenance.
Key features
A large enterprise solution will have many features the business will want to benefit from in various business functions. Avoid trying to do too much at the same time. In the early phases of engagement and adoption for customer success, it is best to focus on a few key features of the technology that will surface immediate value to the business and employees. If the company has a large mobile workforce, the business might focus on the mobility aspects of the solution to ensure quicker and easier adoption. If the company is under pressure for compliance in information security regulations, they might focus on the data leak protection (DLP) integration with the new technology.
Existing systems being replaced
What existing systems or technology is being replaced and is there a plan to sunset existing technology? Employees will better understand the timeline they are working with and the urgency by the business to improve business processes using the new technology. Many times, the new technology has been in use by a focus group as a proof of concept and evaluation. Technology leaders might mention the fact that the new technology has been in use by a focus group and share results from the adoption by the focus group. In addition, a survey of the early adopters can be compiled and shared with the wider audience at the moment the technology roll out is being socialized to generate excitement and a following for the new technology.
Metrics and benchmarks
We mentioned above that surveys are one of the ways to measure adoption. In a survey people can express their satisfaction with the technology in areas like the user interface, ease of use, and integrated efficiency. Adding application key performance indicators (KPI) will help get a deeper understanding of the engagement with the technology. You will also want to focus the KPIs that surface the expected benefits and key features listed in the plan.
Start with a baseline. This means you will need a plan for measuring that baseline on day one and this is where the focus group can be helpful. Also work with the vendor to know where to get the data for your baseline. Next plan a cadence for collecting metrics to compare with your baseline. The Audit System in the Thru Platform interface is most often used for measuring engagement because it offers dashboards and reports that can be focused on specific activities. Thru audit reports can be exported to excel, monthly for example, and charts can be created to view trends in engagement and adoption. Following are few examples of KPI frameworks that could be used.
KPI – Internal and External Downloads
KPI – Authenticated Users and Application Usage
KPI – Activity Dashboard (found in Audit utility Reports tab)
- Monthly Max Storage
- Monthly Max File Count
- Secure Message Count with Running Totals
- Internal and External I/O pie chart
- Monthly Max User Count
Engagement and adoption is all about value. It is critical that the technology group be closely partnered with the end-users of the technology in order to measure and demonstrate value to the business. Demonstrating value doesn’t need to be complicated either. Start with basic key performance indicators that show people starting to use the solutions. Spoon feed users with tips for getting started and share results in KPI measurements that will create a following. People that have not started engaging need to read success stories of how the application is benefiting various parts of the business. Build momentum, build a following, drive value.
