8 Effective Methods of Increasing SharePoint User Adoption
Nowadays, SharePoint is one of the most commonly used enterprise collaboration platforms. More than 80% of organizations use Office 365, which is growing daily. However, as a result, it’s also the least adopted software outside of the initial onboarding phase. One thing that’s definitely not helping is how challenging it can be to get users excited about SharePoint user adoption.
There’s a good chance you know someone who works for an organization with significant investment in SharePoint already. Moreover, it’s even more likely that there isn’t anyone on your team willing to adopt it.
It means your adoption efforts have been severely limited. Therefore, you need to come up with new ways to increase user adoption if you want to see results. Here are some effective strategies for increasing end user adoption of SharePoint.
1. Change the Users on the Ground Floor
As a company moves through the lifecycle of SharePoint adoption, its first users will often be the most hesitant. The ground floor users will usually be those with the least responsibility for making the investment. They’ll also be the ones who see mere value in adopting SharePoint.
You can address this by changing how those first users get onboarded into SharePoint. Instead of starting with more experienced users and then slowly moving down to the new ones, start with users with less experience. It will also help you address the challenge of initiating an adoption project with a senior manager.
When you start with users who are responsible for bringing any new technology into their department, it makes the decision-making process a lot easier. Tackle this challenge by ensuring users get a clearer picture of SharePoint benefits.
Moreover, always make sure the first users are getting a training and mentoring approach. It walks them through the big picture of why they should use SharePoint.
2. SharePoint Sandbox for New Employees
You can significantly reduce the risk of resistance to SharePoint by using a sandbox. A sandbox is a fully functional instance of SharePoint that allows new team members to access it for a defined period. This feature allows them to experience the core workflow of SharePoint on their abilities and without making any data changes.
Your new team members might face a lot of reservations about using SharePoint because of the risk involved with their own jobs. Instead of trying to avoid that challenge head-on, use a sandbox to bring the risk of using the platform down to a safe level.
New team members can experience the core workflow of SharePoint while they feel less pressure than they would in a more traditional environment.
3. Track How Users Are Using SharePoint
If you’re looking to increase user adoption for SharePoint, you need to make sure you’re tracking how your users are actually using SharePoint.
Knowing the top five reasons why users abandon their SharePoint adoption can help you better meet their needs. For users who use SharePoint, this data can help them get a better sense of the issues.
It can also help you identify users who still need to include a few key features to fully realize the value that SharePoint can bring to teams. For those who aren’t quite familiar with SharePoint, this data can help you identify key pain points that users are facing. Your goal here isn’t to create user stories, but instead, to identify key areas of pain you can work to address.
4. Build a Strong Case for SharePoint Adoption for All Your Users
When you’re trying to get users engaged with SharePoint, you have to appeal them in the best possible way. You can’t just talk about it. Instead, you have to make a strong case for why it’s a better option than other tools your team currently uses.
There are millions of dollars invested in your current tools, so don’t be dismissive of what these other tools offer. Make a strong case for why investing in SharePoint will result in more productivity with less risk of failure.
5. Follow Up on Features That Are Lagging
Make sure that you’re following up on features that users are experiencing issues with. Many organizations will have a meeting to follow up on adoption. But those meetings are often under-reported and under-utilized. For example, if your users are experiencing issues managing content and creating their first document, you need to address those issues immediately. When you do that, it creates a strong case for SharePoint adoption.
6. Make Sure You’re Offering Enough Support
SharePoint isn’t like other software employee use once and walk away. There are many moving parts in SharePoint, including security, governance, and compliance. They can be challenging for even experienced users.
It’s important to remember that while SharePoint is easier to use than many other platforms, it can be challenging for some users to fully realize the value it brings. It’s not enough to have a single person in charge of monitoring the usage of those features. You need to have a team responsible for monitoring how those features work.
7. Make SharePoint the Default Option
One of the best ways to make a strong case for investing in SharePoint is to make it the default option. If users are experiencing challenges with other collaboration tools, it’s important to make sure that they’re using SharePoint over those alternatives.
There’s a lot of value in ensuring that your users are using SharePoint, but you also need to ensure that they use it most effectively.
8. Make SharePoint User-friendly
It’s important to remember that not all users will be comfortable with the more challenging aspects of using SharePoint. So, It’s important to ensure that you’re addressing these challenges as part of your user adoption strategy.
One challenge that many organizations are experiencing is that they aren’t making sure that their users are using the most effective ways to use SharePoint. It can include creating content in Word or Excel, which is the most effective way to create content. Moreover, creating content on a specific website instead of in a document library is also better.
