adoption strategies for enterprise collaboration7

Enterprise social networks offer a litany of benefits ranging

from better employee engagement to faster problem solv-

ing. But, getting the maximum ROI is dependent on one

thing: successful employee adoption. How do you get more

employees involved on the network? How do you get past

initial networking barriers and convince them of its value?

Changing personal work habits is difficult, but not impossible.

Check out these 7 strategies to increase adoption.

don’t overwhelm your employees1

don’t overwhelm your employees

Social networks always start off with a small group of people and then grow larger. Build your collaboration efforts on a steady stream of small successes. Give your employees time to adjust to new ways of doing things. You can start with teams and then departments. This will allow you to work out any kinks in the system—and give you a ready supply of updates to keep awareness top of mind through-out your organization.

provide clear communication on a regular basis2

provide clear communication on a regular basis

It’s ironic that many companies introduce social collaboration platforms without getting feedback or having conversations about it with employees. Ongoing communication—starting even before you roll out—is important if you want to build trust and universal buy-in.

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Survey employees about what problems they’d like a collabora- tion platform to solveBrand the collaboration effort at your company by enlisting a creative team or asking your whole company to collaborate on the best tagline and logoUse hands-on activities—such as brown bag lunches with champions or “super users,” focus groups and road showsProvide a forum for asking questions and addressing concerns head onAnd, make sure your employees know who they can talk to for basic information, suggestions and support

teach the why as much as the how3

teach the why as much as the how

Training around your new collaboration platform should explain what it’s for, what processes will be impacted and how to use it, but it’s even more important to explain to employees why it’s so important.

Outline specific use cases to demonstrate what’s really in it for your employees. Show customer service how they can use the platform to answer their customer’s questions faster. Show sales reps how to benefit from connections with product specialists. Crowdsource more use-case ideas from your employees—using the platform itself— and frame all the examples within the larger context of the social media revolution.

Consider making training sessions available in person and online. Produce and distribute video success stories, and employ super us-ers of the collaboration tools to mentor others. Tailor your training by department or team if necessary, and don’t forget to revamp your employee orientation program to include collaboration training right from the start.

show, don’t tell4

show, don’t tell

According to IDC’s Michael Fauscette, the more people who use a collaboration platform, the more people will want to use it. Some-times it helps to start with your corporate communications and HR team. Have them post company-wide announcements, such as the next quarter earnings call and other important news that relates to everyone in the company. And don’t forget to thank your CEO, top management, super users and new users alike when they demon-strate examples of good use of the platform.

gamify the adoption process5

gamify the adoption process

Increased productivity isn’t always enough incentive for people to adopt a new communication platform. By using “gamification,” add-ing gaming elements to get people collaborating, you can create more buzz around your new technology through a little friendly competition. Basic components include:

Make it fun, but not frivolous, and make sure you don’t reward behavior that you’re trying to eliminate. And, it helps to reward teams of people working together, not just single employees.

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Clearly identified challenges, with well-defined rules, which can be performed within a set timeframeA series of rewards and incentives, such as badges, that can be earned for doing things like posting helpful messages, col-laborating outside your normal silo etc.Online recognition through leader boards, group rankings, points needed, etc.

integrate new tools into your workflow6

integrate new tools into your workflow

When you think about business applications that get the most adoption, expense report procedures tend to top the list. This is because without adhering to the process employees won’t be reimbursed. The same concept can be applied to collaboration tools: integrate them into your existing business processes and simply make it harder for employees to avoid using. Integrating these platforms with all other business applications also makes it a seamless experience that’s easy.

Your collaboration tools should replace—not supplement—older methods of interaction, and should link to important back-end systems like SharePoint or your CRM solution, according Laurie Buczek, who led strategy and implementation of social collaboration mid-stream. “Your intranet should be one in the same with your social platform,” she said. “Your social platform must seamlessly be an integral part of that experience. Don’t ship off your employees to a separate site to socially engage & collaborate.”

collaborate with your vendor7

Your collaboration solution provider can be a valuable ally in your ef-fort to engage employees. They can hook you up with other custom-ers who’ve had adoption success, and can give you their own ideas of what could work best in your enterprise. After all, isn’t that what collaboration’s all about?

collaborate with your vendor

Enterprise social networking adoption isn’t something that happens overnight, but relying on organic growth isn’t the fastest way either. Typically, some employees will get started right away, but others will respond better to incentives. By applying the right adoption strategies, catering to your organization’s diverse interests and business needs, you can start to see more use of the network and eventually the busi-ness value you’ve been waiting for.

conclusion

tibbr is the universal social enterprise platform that is revolutionizing the way we work, collaborate, learn and share. tibbr connects people, applications and data in context in a universal and entirely personal way.

tibbr brings together what matters to individuals or groups— to get work done better, faster. It’s an open, intensely flexible platform that can be delivered on premise or in the cloud with over 1 million paid users in more than 100 countries.

Learn more at www.tibbr.com.

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