On the Software Company side:
There are many reasons, but I find the main reasons are: non-aligned performance metrics across the customer-facing groups within the software company and the narrow near-term incentives each group receives.
(a) Primary focus of the sales team (measured by the incentives we set for them) of a software company always is in closing sales.
Who can blame them for having this focus -- when the sales cycle for selling enterprise systems is so long and we hammer them to close the sale?
(b) Primary focus of implementation team of a software company is in "on-time" and "at-cost" implementation.
Who can blame them for having this focus -- when they are held responsible to project milestones and time-lines and we hammer them to finish the implementation and move to the next?
(c) Primary focus of customer service personnel is to log, manage and resolve immediate day-to-day user issues.
Who can blame them for having this focus when they are held responsible to satisfy each user's emergent need and we hammer them to keep the user instantly gratified?
Adoption rate (both velocity and acceleration) never remains in the sight-line of the supplier's management team. The issue of unlimited user licensing further stops this issue from being in the top 5 priorities of leadership team of the software company.
On the Client side:
There are many reasons but I find that the main reasons are: the zero to minimum incentives and the level of focus of each stakeholder group within the client company, as associated with the purchase and implementation of the software.
(a) Primary focus of the client's purchasing team are in measuring ROI case for budget and in making sure all compliance issues related to purchasing are met.
Who can blame them for having this focus -- when they are only held responsible for meeting compliance and appropriate spend?
(b) Primary focus of the client's implementation team are in making the implementation trouble-free and in making sure there are no delays.
Who can blame them for having this focus -- when they are the face of the software (internal to the client) and face resistance to the change head-on?
(c) Primary focus of the client's system administrators are in managing immediate day-to-day user issues and in complying with internal network security protocols.
Who can blame them for having this focus -- when the client's leadership only cares about "no trouble" at hand?
It is extremely important that adoption of software is articulated to the client prior to closing the sales.
We should ask these questions as part of sales discussion:
(1) Who are the early adopters within the client?
(2) Have the early adopters ever been utilized to be an ambassador for other systems?
(3) How will the client transfer knowledge to new users?
User Experience is the most important critical factor that effects both the psychology behind adopting new technology and the length of time it takes to adopt new technology.
When the users say the following, then we have maximized the user experience:
You have my attention!
This is easy to use!
This makes my work easier!
(a) To get a response from the user: “You have my attention!” one has to answer these questions:
i. How involved will be the leadership team of the client in promoting accountability of middle managers in using the products?
ii. What incentives will be provided to increase utilization?
iii. What other initiatives internal to client and external conditions will prevent users from focusing on using the software?
(b) To get a response from the user: “This is easy to use” one has to answer these questions:
i. How can the software company run a pilot to replicate their usability test results with the client's user?
ii. How many users will be trained in Analytics and reporting and will be held accountable to use and understand the data that is being entered?
iii. How will we communicate the data on demographic factors in order to further understand the needs of diverse users?
iv. For custom product: How involved will be the users in designing, testing, promoting the software features?
v. What steps will we take to ensure workaround by users after implementation is minimized?
(c) To get a response from the user: “This will make my work easier!” one has to answer the following questions:
i. How involved will be the leadership team of the client in promoting accountability of middle managers in using the products?
ii. Where/Which features will most users have trouble in adopting during the implementation stage?
iii. How will the use time effect productivity goals for supervisors?
iv. For custom product: How involved will be the users in designing, testing, promoting the software features?
v. What workarounds will the user create and how do we monitor and prevent it?
So! here are the steps:
1st: Answer the questions about user experience with the client around sales close time.
2nd: Take proper steps to address the gaps found in the answers.
3rd: Design and implement metrics and goals based on these gaps across all stakeholders in both supplier and the client.
4th: Design incentives that tie performance of all stakeholder groups in the client and the supplier.
5th: Monitor performance and actively correct course as needed.
These steps will ensure increased adoption rate and utilization rate;
--> In turn, will deliver the full promised ROI to the client;
--> When the ROI is captured, the technology will become what it should be -- An "enabling" technology to the work processes.
SaaS, as a current hot technology offering to businesses, does have the makings of a better way to attract early adopters. However SaaS (especially enterprise) software providers should address the question of adoption and utilization upfront with their client in order to make SaaS solutions a better alternative (than the existing reality of legacy software) to business users.
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