Why technology adoption matters, Part 2

This is a continuation of the article Deploying software is easy, but realizing value can be hard.  Why technology adoption matters.

In an organization, there exists 3 core segments that IT and technology partners focus on and interact: Individuals, Workgroups and the Enterprise itself. Obviously the dynamics of a company can take a wall full of whiteboards to properly describe, but for the sake of brevity let’s agree that they would fit into one of the aforementioned segments. 

In Part 1, I described the nucleus of any technology adoption as involving the deployment of that technology.  Think of deployment as the nucleus of a technology orb, ok?  As such, when put into motion, the more complete that nucleus is, the truer the forward progress of that orb.  Taking the analogy slightly further, the adoption that is solidly based on deployment is less likely to be swayed off track by the typical obstacles in its path or wind of change.  As I shared before, the symbiotic relationship between deployment and adoption sometimes necessitates small-scale or targeted adoption as the precursor to broader deployment.  Let’s look at how adoption can be affected in each, starting with individuals or end users:

When John in Finance discovered that the latest update to the software package he uses would save him 2 hours of time during month-end close, he was hooked. Convinced of the potential productivity gains it would offer to his colleagues, he shared his experience with others he worked with and even pinged a few students in his evening MBA class.  Altogether, his positive experience in realizing value resulted in 45 recommendations to others, who were motivated by the connection to discover this and other new features themselves.

As the Executive Assistant to Vice President of Sales, Pat’s days are filled with scheduling activities and managing various work-flow processes. When a business process consultant demonstrated how their email client could manage multiple calendars, it was a really good day. And when IT held a Tips & Tricks session over lunch, Pat returned to the office with 2 pages of notes to share with the other EAs.

Both of these scenarios demonstrate how individuals can impact the swiftness and deep with which technology can permeate the enterprise.  All it takes is a compelling event that offers value to an individual’s work experience, one that they are then compelled to share with others (viral). It would seem easy enough to facilitate this type of engagement.

Sadly, individual adoption of technology is the segment most often ignored by most of IT and technology partners.  Why is that?  I think it’s mostly because of the perceived low return that comes from engaging with the end user community – they don’t approve invoices, submit RFPs or sign the checks, right?  But we are now in the era of the “consumerization” of technology, wherein opportunity is lost without recognition of the importance in getting buy-in from the rank & file if they want to succeed in getting that positive investment return.  That’s why IBM and Cisco advertise in primetime, capturing mindshare to the point that IT decisions are no longer accepted without question.  It’s also why Google apps & services tout convenient consumer access, offering capabilities that sometimes have yet to be implemented within their place of work.  And for customers in their Software Assurance program, Microsoft provides free copies of their Microsoft Office suite for end users to install on their home PCs.

The fact is, an organization misses out on tremendous potential for value realization when end users adoption is not planned for.  Their excitement, support and validation can reap huge rewards in terms of receptivity of solutions as well as introducing waves of increased productivity.  For technology adoption to succeed, you have to engage the end user by addressing their concerns and exciting them about the potential offered to them and their work activities.

So what are your thoughts?  Can technology adoption success without engaging the end user community?  What are ways you have seen this done successfully?  What are some of the pitfalls that IT and technology partners need to be aware of?