The Best Way to Drive Video Usage and Adoption

Published 8/3/2012

 

David Danto

 

Principal Consultant - AV / Multimedia / Video / UC,

Dimension Data

 

Director of Emerging Technology, IMCCA

 

 

Many a product has failed at an organization or in the marketplace because the owner thought it was just so cool that everyone would flock to using it. The reality is that it doesn't happen that way. People tend to keep doing whatever they've done all along, which means not using the new technology. In physics this is referred to as inertia.

Videoconferencing is a very powerful tool that enterprises can use to transform the way they do business, but all of the predicted ROI and benefits don't happen if the systems don't get used.

What I frequently ask technology managers to do is compare the planning and effort used for the implementation (project managers, written plans, schedules, targets, metrics, timelines, recurring meetings, etc.) with the planning and effort put into the usage and adoption plan. If they are not equal efforts, then utilization will fall short of the ideal -- and often far short -- leading to executive disappointment and negative perceptions of what should be a great technology.

So what does a good usage and adoption plan look like? First of all, it puts the technology in a secondary role and leads with the people. Ask yourself, "Did your users have any input into selecting that video system or service you just bought and implemented?" If not, it represents a lost opportunity to drive adoption right at the beginning.

Creating a focus group that represents a cross section of your users and finding out what they are really thinking (not just what you think they are thinking), has tremendous value. A formal process to engage users before shopping for technology not only ensures that the products you select will be in line with actual needs, but it provides some other benefits as well:

·         It serves as a "pressure-release valve" -- so people do not let problems or bad perceptions build up.

·         It inherently conveys a sense of worth and value to the users -- which then leads them to be more open to adopting changes in process and technology (because they feel the end product was "developed by them.")

·         It begins to grow a group of "technology evangelists" that will be open to piloting new systems and spreading the word about their value.

Once you have the information from your focus group, and you select and plan to implement your videoconferencing technology, you should also begin to plan your steps to drive adoption. I'll describe these steps in full detail in a later blog post.

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This blog was written by David Danto and contains solely his own, personal opinions. It originally was published at UBM’s “The Video Enterprise” website that was closed down November 1st 2012.  Here is a link to the Google cache of the page with comments.  I do not know how long Google keeps these pages.

 

David has over 30 years of experience providing problem solving leadership and innovation in media and unified communications technologies for various firms in the corporate, broadcasting and academic worlds including AT&T, Bloomberg LP, FNN, Morgan Stanley, NYU, Lehman Brothers and JP Morgan Chase. He recently joined Dimension Data as their Principal Consultant for the collaboration, multimedia, video and AV disciplines. He is also the IMCCA’s Director of Emerging Technology. David can be reached at David.Danto@Dimensiondata.com or DDanto@imcca.org, he can be followed on Twitter @NJDavidD , and his full bio and other blogs and articles can be seen at Danto.info.