It’s no big secret that I’m a fan of data sharing and of the opportunities it can create for an organization and its people. Last week I wrote about data sharing from a technology perspective and while implementing the right solution is essential for data sharing to actually work in practice, it is also paramount to bring your people along on the journey. That’s the topic of today’s article.
I see a lot of parallels between having people adopt a technology and really embrace the possibilities it brings and many other aspects of life. Let’s take cycling, for example, where people spend a lot of money on components and parts that are a few grams lighter. If the willingness to train and to build strong leg and core muscles aren’t there, no ultra light carbon bike in the world will win the race for you.
Implementing the best available data and analytics technology needs to be supported by enablement for your people so they can make the most of the new solution, and they can recognize how it makes their lives easier, their jobs more fun and allows them to tackle trickier and bigger data questions than ever before.
A crucial element for user adoption is asking ourselves the question: what’s in it for them? ‘Them’ being the analysts, data scientists and business users who will form the largest part of the user community around a technology.
So, what’s in it for them? Can you spell out not just the benefits of the solution but also how it addresses the specific pain points your data people experience in their daily work? Do you know what challenges they’re facing in analyzing massive, unwieldy datasets to generate insightful reports on time?
Most likely it is a combination of the following:
So how does the technology you implement address these common issues? Make sure to take this into consideration when selecting a vendor and tool to improve the chances of analysts actually loving the software they will be working with.
You might shudder at the thought of asking a large group of people about the needs they have when it comes to analytics technology. And yes hundreds of unique requests are not helpful, but I’m confident that the above list plus a few extras will be the overarching theme you’ll find when talking to your data people.
Bring that list to your vendor and be as specific as possible to ensure the technology delivers what you need.
What does that have to do with user adoption? Well, it’s the precursor. Users won’t adopt a technology that doesn’t solve their problems and instead creates more work for them, so as a first step make sure that whatever you choose is chosen for the right reasons and with the target audience in mind.
As humans we’re creatures of habit and we like things the way they are (usually). That’s why we eat our favorite foods all the time and take the same route to the gym/office/park. We need a bit of rewiring when it comes to implementing bigger changes and to overcome our initial resistance.
Data sharing can be a game changer for any organization and can very actively break down silos between departments to foster true collaboration. We once again must ask the question: what’s in it for them — how do analysts benefit from changing their behaviors and how can we show that benefit quickly as well as long-term? Beyond that we have to build new habits around collaboration so that the technology that can unite us within a business has a good chance of being adopted.
My recommendation is to develop an action plan with specific activities and initiatives that introduce and build collaboration. Rather than scheduling more compulsory team meetings, however, let’s have internal champions drive these initiatives.
I have no doubt you have a handful of people in your organization who are eager to use the new solution, learn about it, implement it for their projects and beyond.
