As you launch your enterprise intranet to connect your employees, automating your processes and sharing information becomes easier for everyone. However, the adoption of SharePoint can be challenging for some companies. Here are common user adoption issues and their solutions.
Lack of C-Suite Support
If your organization’s top executives are not fully on board with the need for SharePoint, you may find that it fails to gain adoption quickly. C-Suite leadership can play a key role in the success of SharePoint adoption. If you are experiencing a lack of C-Suite support. You should consider the following factors.
Lack of Information
A lack of information could be one of the biggest barriers to SharePoint adoption. Although the return on investment can be tremendous. many organizations fail to realize the full potential of SharePoint due to a lack of information. This could be due to mismatched expectations, unclear ROI expectations, weak vendor selection criteria, or a lack of information/training from the IT team. If you are experiencing a lack of information. You should consider the following remedies.
Get Buy-In for the Return on Investment
Once you have the information you need, you can educate executives on the return on investment of SharePoint. Many strategic business drivers, such as cost savings, improved productivity, and enhanced collaboration, can be leveraged with SharePoint.
Provide More Information About Your Vendor Selection Criteria
If you are experiencing a lack of information, you should consider the fact that many executives are unclear on the selection criteria they used to select the vendor for their business needs. If this is the case, you can provide more information about your vendor selection criteria.
Build a Successful Partnership
Successful partnerships with IT leaders can bring about a new level of awareness and involvement within the organization. You can do this by building a successful partnership with the IT team, sharing your vision for SharePoint, and creating a roadmap for its adoption.
Limited User Adoption Skills
Since it’s a new technology, many users will feel hesitant about trying SharePoint. However, if the majority of your users have limited skills. They will struggle to get the most out of SharePoint. If your users lack knowledge or experience with SharePoint, they will struggle to adopt it successfully. To maximize SharePoint user adoption, it’s important to get the right people using SharePoint. To identify users with limited adoption skills, you can conduct a skill assessment on your users. This can help you identify skills that need to be improved. Once you know where to focus your training efforts. You can use the results of this assessment to tailor training programs to suit your user audience.
Weak Network Infrastructure and Bad Web Browser Support
If your organization is behind the times when it comes to technology. Many of your users will be affected by the lack of support for modern web browsers and SharePoint features. If the majority of your end users have weak network infrastructure or are using outdated web browsers, they will struggle to be successful with SharePoint.
To maximize user adoption, you should make sure your organization’s network is up to date and has the appropriate web browser versions installed. You can also assess your users’ web browser support. And make sure any outdated software is up to date. If your users don’t have the latest web browser and software, they will struggle to fully take advantage of SharePoint.
Poor Training and/or Awareness
If your users don’t have enough training, they will struggle to fully adopt SharePoint. Training programs should be based on real-world user scenarios to maximize user adoption. If your users don’t have enough awareness of the benefits of SharePoint, they will struggle to fully adopt it.
To maximize user adoption, you should create awareness programs that highlight the benefits of using SharePoint. Awareness campaigns can be designed to educate end users on the benefits of using SharePoint. Such as improving collaboration, managing content, and automating processes.
Inconsistent Branding and Navigational Barriers
If your organization uses inconsistent branding and navigational barriers, many of your users will have a hard time finding their way around your content. If your organization has inconsistent branding, users will have a hard time finding their way around your content. To maximize user adoption, you should make sure your branding and navigational barriers are consistent. Consistent branding and navigation can help your users navigate your content and find their way around SharePoint.
Confusing documentation and User Manuals
If your documentation is extremely confusing, many of your users will have a hard time understanding how to use SharePoint. Once they have a hard time understanding how to use SharePoint. They will struggle to fully adopt it. To maximize user adoption, you should make sure your documentation is as clear as possible.
You can accomplish this by using easily understood language. And formatting your documentation in an easy-to-understand way so that no matter what level of training your users have. They will be able to easily follow along. To make sure your documentation is as clear as possible, you should use simple language and follow the guidelines of the Content Quality Association. This will help you avoid confusing your users by using technical language. And formatting that is too detailed for your end users.
Conclusion
Adoption of SharePoint can be challenging for some organizations. To maximize user adoption, you should consider the above-mentioned issues, and try to streamline them. Otherwise, it would be a hard nut to crack.
