Engaged Employees will Engage Customers

We know now that any system implementation not focusing on user adoption is very much likely to fail. However, business applications such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 are still implemented in many organizations with a main focus on improving and digitalizing business processes, and little or no consideration of the users. User adoption is often perceived as “less important costs” that tend to be cut off by the customer, or not included in offers by IT suppliers.

What exactly does user adoption mean?

A prominent reason why user adoption gets undermined, is because it is difficult to understand. User adoption is a quite abstract domain, that can be harder to estimate than the very tangible technical functionality being deployed.

Implementing for example Dynamics 365 or Customer Insights requires employees to learn a new kind of technology, methods and user patterns. Therefore, one can say that a system implementation has two sides; one technical side and one human side, the latter being a quite psychological aspect. The user adoption process happens before, during and after the system implementation.

In essence, user adoption is about adapting new routines
and ways of working due to digital changes,
and it is the result of successful change management.

Nonetheless, the first thing that comes to many people’s minds when they hear the term “user adoption”, is training. Training is undeniably critical, because employees who does not master a system, will not use a system. Simple as that. But really, user adoption is so much more than just obtaining the skills necessary to navigate a system! Employees need to understand the value it brings both to the organization, and to themselves. The users should understand not only WHAT, but WHY, the change is taking place and understand why they may have a change resistant attitude, to be able to take an active part in the digital development. Once they start feeling enthusiastic about the new technology and all it’s great functionality, -only then it will be used to its full potential.

The output that can be uncovered from Dynamics 365 and Customer Insights are amazing, but it depends on the input, or the existence of input.

There are many benefits of including change management as part of a Dynamics 365 or Customer Insights project, and there are several consequences of not doing so. User adoption usually makes up for half of an IT-project. Knowing this, it makes little sense to implement only half of the service and expecting the entire result.

One can think of an investment in user adoption as an investment in long term value of the digitalization initiative. Whereas customers are often said to be the most important asset for any organization, perhaps the people working in the organization should be considered as equally important. Decisions on system implementations are very often made by those who are not going to use it themselves. Conclusively, it is essential to listen, involve and engage users to be able to pull in the same direction as a united team.

Where do you go from now?

Whether you are planning to, or already have implemented Dynamics 365 or Customer Insights in your organization, it is a good idea to stop and evaluate the level of engagement among your employees on the journey towards your vision of achieving customer engagement. It is far too costly not to.

Author

Christine Wiig Abrahamsen

Business Analyst/Consultant Dynamics 365

Christine Wiig Abrahamsen is a Business Analyst in Microsoft Platform & Solutions in Capgemini Norway. As a CRM consultant, she has much experience with Microsoft Dynamics 365 from several CRM projects with clients in both private and public sector, and across industries. She cares about digitalization and the technology’s role in business operations and is driven by creating value, both for the customer and the customer’s customer. She is also highly concerned about the role of user adoption for successful IT projects and how careful consideration of this will lead to strong relations, meaningful workdays and consequently increased profit for the customer.

Contact Christine if you want to know more about user adoption and how dynamics 365 can help your business create personalized experiences with a 360-degree view of customers.