Blog

User Adoption: End Users are the Most Important! (But Management is Important, too)
End users of your CRM system (or any other system!) are the most important building blocks to a successful implementation. Why then are they so often overlooked? Why does management so often dictate requirements without a single consideration of how the end user will react?
“They need to learn how to use this to do their job; they will figure it out.” – Management
Picture this: An organization gathers all major decision makers and managers into a room for a requirements gathering session. The Project Manager says, “what metrics do you want to report on?” The Sales Manager wants 15 fields. The Customer Service Manager needs another 24 fields. The Operations Manager needs 12 different fields. The CEO is looking for roll-up metrics that require another 10 fields. All of a sudden, the Project Manager leaves requirements gathering meeting #1 with 61 new required fields to add to the solution.
I’m willing to bet that many readers have experienced a version of this picture I have painted for you.
How will adding 61 required fields to forms in CRM effect your salesperson? Your Customer Service reps? Do these configuration changes add value to the business goals? How much time does a salesperson lose selling by entering 61 required fields in CRM when they may only need 3?
Now, picture this second scenario: An organization gathers a sampling of end users into a room for a requirements gathering session. There are tenured sales reps, inside sales reps, customer service reps, marketing associates and others from across all areas of the organization. The Project Manager says, “how can this system help you to do your job more efficiently?” The sales reps talk about manual reporting they do weekly for the Sales Managers. Customer Service reps discuss how many screen pops, tabs and programs they go back and forth between on any given call. The Project Manager leaves the requirements gathering meeting #1 with a different to-do list. His/her challenge is now to leverage technology to alleviate pain points for these end users and optimize business processes.
Now, that’s not to say that management shouldn’t be involved! I would recommend having Business Requirements Meeting #1 play out as mentioned above, with the end users. THEN, the management meeting should occur.
Simply put, end users should be involved starting at the requirements gathering stage. Walk the fine line of customizing for your end users while meeting business requirements from management. Apart from involving them in requirements meetings, you can also do ride alongs, job shadowing – anything to better understand what they are doing and where technology can help improve the process.
Need help walking that fine line? We are User Adoption experts at Beringer Technology Group. Let us help you make sure you don’t miss the mark when it comes to User Adoption.
This blog is the first in a series that will focus on a deep dive in User Adoption. User Adoption is so very important in a CRM implementation and often overlooked. So, what can you do to help encourage adoption for a system? Over the next several months, we will look at ten ways to help with User Adoption at your organization.
If you have questions please do not hesitate to contact us at 800.796.4854. We can help you with all of your Dynamics 365 needs. Beringer Technology Group is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and has proven excellence in Managed IT Services.
Beringer Technology Group, a leading Microsoft Gold Certified Partner specializing in Microsoft Dynamics 365 and CRM for Distribution. We also provide expert Managed IT Services, Backup and Disaster Recovery, Cloud Based Computing and Unified Communication Systems.