How to achieve user acceptance in 5 steps

When new technology is being introduced in an organization, it can sometimes be considered a threat if the intent of the new technology is not fully understood. The new technology could be perceived as competing with individuals in the organization for their job. Changes in the way we have worked for years are not always welcome, as we normally become very accustomed to doing our work in a certain way. When we need to change the way we are doing something, the use of a new technology or process can be considered as threatening.

In this article, we will explain 5 steps to make the introduction of changes in the workplace easier for everyone. By following these steps, users should accept the new technology or process more easily. As you may know, change can either be exciting or frightening. This article is based on our experience and provides practical tips on how to gain acceptance from your users when implementing a new technology, process, or any other change. After all, we enable organizations with innovative solutions – and we know it is key that users accept a new way of working the make it a success!

Step 1: Know that you are introducing something new in the organization

Change is a part of our business life. While the change may seem small to those implementing it, end-users may have a different impression. It is much easier to accept change if the user understands why the change is proposed. They also need to understand what is needed from a business perspective. More importantly, it’s required to find out and understand what users need and want to be more effective at their jobs. It is important to ensure that disruptive forces or chaos do not negatively impact end-users.

As you are changing your processes or selecting a new technology, never lose sight of how the user will understand and use the process in their workday. This means that whatever you implement is designed to support the attitudes and behaviors of the user rather than requiring the user to adapt to the new process of technology. For further assurance that the process or technology is suited to the user, it is prudent to have users try the new process or technology. Regardless of how great the new process or technology is, your project may be considered a failure if the users do not accept it.

Today, consumerization is driving the adoption of new technologies and changes in our organizations. Listening to what challenges and problems your users have will help you to be responsive and obtain acceptance much faster. By adopting a technology with this in mind, your employees will experience better job satisfaction and are able to work more efficiently.

Step 2: Involve key users and stakeholders

Just as you do with any project, it is important to gather a group of stakeholders to act as champions for what you are implementing. These stakeholders can be a part of the overall project team or they can be another group of stakeholders who will help to get more of your organization involved in the project. Keep this group small but try to get representation from all the working groups in the organization. It should definitely include the management champion for the project.

The key to gaining user acceptance is to use the various users/stakeholders from your organization to communicate the change and help build excitement about the upcoming technology or process change. Individuals from all levels of the organization’s hierarchy should be involved so they can speak to other colleagues and relate the changes to their specific needs. If you can win over detractors, they can become champions for the change.

In every project we do, we support our customers with gaining user acceptance. From defining the required stakeholder roles to onboarding activities and support with communication, together we make sure that user acceptance is achieved.

Step 3: Develop a communications / engagement plan

Develop a communications plan to reduce the anxiety and stress of change and to ensure what you are implementing will be accepted and successful. In this plan, you should lay out the process for communicating the changes to your organization at all levels. The communications plan will help to ensure that your communications are properly worded for maximum understanding and eliminate any confusion or fear that may be associated with change.

Colleagues at all levels must be engaged in the project. Through the use of an engagement plan, you will be able to identify how everyone can be engaged in the project. Identify some measurements to gauge the success of your communications and engagement plans.

Our best advice is to ‘Keep it Simple’. Communications should be natural. Communicate on a regular schedule or share nuggets about the project on an intranet site to exemplify transparency in the project. You want everyone to know how the project is going and to create excitement.

Step 4: Develop a training program

You have invested a lot of time and money to improve your process or select and acquire new technology. Do not let that investment be in vain. Every organization will have skeptics! If we understand the new process or technology and why it is being implemented, it is easier to accept it. Make sure everyone in the organization impacted by the process or technology receives training. Any training referred to the old technology or process needs to be updated. The training for the new process and technology should also be incorporated into the new employee onboarding training and into refresher training if applicable. With appropriate training, your organization will be on its way to achieving its goals.

Make the training engaging and fun! Try to think of alternate methods, e.g., games to teach the new process or technology. Remember that many of your colleagues may not have had process or technology training since they joined your organization. This training will help to reinforce the policies and procedures your organization has in place.

Depending on the type of project, training is a fixed part of a project. Our certified professionals are able to train your key users following the “train-the-trainer” principle. Your team is able to train your end-users in no-time! Of course, it is always possible to follow additional training in order to specialize or if new key users start working in your organization.

Step 5: Keep informing and educating

After successful implementation and user adoption, it is keen to keep inform and educate your users. After a while, the new software is adapted to their routine which makes users sometimes unaware of all possibilities the software can provide them to accelerate their daily routine. By having frequent education/update sessions about the software,  users can experience a larger learning curve acquiring the knowledge of the system. These sessions can be used for pointing out commonly used features and new software updates.

How we can help

At IRIS Nederland we take information management seriously. Information is the source of every organization and therefor requires intelligent, future-proof solutions which meet the needs of organizations and their users. We keep that promise to our customers for over 20 years now. Whether you are looking to implement a new document- or any other information management solution: we have the experience to support you with such a project from start to finish.

Get in touch with us if you want to know more how our solutions and services can make your organization work more efficient, secure and smarter.

About the author

Jules Kozak
Jules KozakBusiness Development