How to Inspire Sustainable Microsoft 365 Adoption After Deployment

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Note: The following is a recap of Anna Chu’s session at Shift Happens Conference 2019. Check out the other session recaps below: 

• How to Manage the Shifting Landscape of Office 365
• Cloud First to Cloud Smart: What You Need to Know About the Modern Security Perimeter
• Discussing the Merits of Digital Leadership with Toni Townes-Whitley
• How to Create & Enforce Your Office 365 Governance Policies
• Fight Sprawl in Office 365! How to Effectively Govern Your Data
• The Best Real-World Strategies for Office 365 and Microsoft Teams Adoption

What’re the core things that people care about when adopting Microsoft 365? This is a question asked by many organizations as they try to get users to adopt new technology. In Anna Chu’s session, “Shifting Gears: How to Inspire and Derive Sustainable Adoption After Deployment,” she provided several best practices to help organizations be more successful.

Stop “Voluntelling Users” What To Do

Organizations that try to force their employees to adopt new technology seldom find success. It was what Anna described as “voluntelling,” or essentially volunteering someone to do something whether they want to or not. This tactic ultimately only hinders progress. Instead, organizations should take a more suggestive approach and provide end-users with relatable use cases that will directly impact how they work for the better.

Tune in to WIIFM: “What’s In It For Me?”

As stated above, organizations need to focus on answering how and why an employee will be interested in a new initiative. This will help mitigate issues associated with shadow IT, data loss, and wasting company time and resources using third-party apps that end up being detrimental to productivity.

The messaging behind Microsoft 365 is simple: it empowers employees to be creative, enhances teamwork and data security, and streamlines tasks for a more efficient workflow. The key is articulating how these benefits will help empower your end-users.

Focus on Business-Driven Change

What are the shared values between your organization at large and your end users? Which of these can meld together in the journey towards a more modern workplace?

Take ransomware, for instance. No one wants their privacy breached whether at work or at home. This is where the adoption of OneDrive could benefit both parties. The faster employees begin adopting modern workplace technology, the faster they’ll be able to ensure that their data and workplace are protected.

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Scenarios Drive Business Results

When organizations facilitate adoption, they must provide scenarios for end users instead of displaying everything as a service. Focusing on real-world applications will provide more impactful insights for users to get on board with new technology.

Steps to Increasing Adoption

Find Early Adopters

Getting enthusiastic early adopters on board can be incredibly helpful in generating interest from the rest of the company. Find employees who are eager to share why everyone should jump on the new technology!

You Must Have Executive Sponsorship

Executive leaders within your organization must practice what they preach and set a good example for the rest of the company. Employees will naturally want to know why leadership gravitated towards the new technology and how it’s beneficial to them.

It’s About the Journey, Not the Destination

The truth of the matter is that learning and driving sustainable adoption never stops. As new hires join the organization—or as laggards are still resistant to change—adoption is always in development. Having continued learning sessions and consistently sharing best practices are the keys to driving everlasting adoption.

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