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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.