“You know the problem with enterprise software,” he said, “It never works out the way they (the vendor) promised!” “It’s because no one knows how to use the software properly.”
He was a principal at an East Coast Private Equity firm and we were at the SIIA “All About the Cloud” Conference in San Francisco a couple of months ago. He was obviously very experienced and was trying to be benevolently provocative but truth be told, I couldn’t have agreed more. I have long held the view that some enterprise software implementations fail; not because of any fundamental issue with the software but rather, because enterprises fail to adopt the solution. Here, I define adoption as gaining the benefits that you thought you would get when you decided to purchase.
So why does this happen? Why do enterprises fail to adopt a solution that they paid for and spent months evaluating to ensure that it met their needs? There are many reasons but at the risk of oversimplification; if I could change one thing, it would be to convince you to invest more time in planning and training for software implementations. Yes I know that’s two 
.
So what can we do about this in terms of Author-it implementations?
I think we understand the challenge. You’re busy. Often too busy to give an implementation project the effort it needs. Also in many cases, our clients are more familiar working with desktop tools. Most have never implemented an enterprise standard solution before.
Recognizing this, our Global Services team have created a “Discovery & Analysis” (D&A) service that we offer at the very beginning of an implementation project. Yes this costs money and at times I think it raises the question, “why are we paying to find out how to implement this?” The answer lies in the fact that every company is different. Every company has their own workflow, legacy content, project resources, project deadlines, and objectives from the implementation. By performing a D&A we are able to effectively scope/plan the project with our clients, assist them to ensure that all of the necessary bases are covered, and objectives achieved.
Years training in martial arts has taught me a bunch of lessons, some of them more than a little painful . One key lesson is; repetition of skill execution creates expertise. I heard it said once that if you spend 10,000 hours doing anything you will become world class in that activity. Now this is far from the requirement to effectively use Author-it; you can be up and running after a few days of training however, I think the point is clear. Following implementation and initial training, it is very important that you build on your base skills and start to create real expertise in the use of Author-it. Now not everyone needs to be a guru but I think at least a sub-set of users do need an advanced skill level. The rest should have a good understanding of the product to realize its benefits. So, how do we best achieve this goal? I don’t think the answer is necessarily more classroom training per see. You need access to on-going training and a program to support this. Enter the Author-it Certified Practitioner and Consultant program.
The program will set a series of levels for both Practitioners (users) and Consultants (those with implementation/training expertise). The levels will be achieved by acquiring expertise through training and/or experience and then completing online examinations to achieve “certified” status. We’re still finalizing the details and structure of the program and we expect to have it live later in the year.
Our team is very positive about the potential of this program to lift the standard of Author-it skills across our client base. We expect better skills to flow onto higher levels of adoption of Author-it. Adoption means real benefits, ROI and even higher levels of product satisfaction. It’s also a great way to up-skill and gain additional employment qualifications.
Comments or questions? Love to hear them.
Cheers
Steve
