Getting Use to IT

Imagine you are in IT and you are involved in an application project. A group of users tested it, they liked it, and you bought it. You then implement the application across the enterprise, train the organization’s users, and tell them to use it. The big question is how are you defining “use”?

Use shouldn’t just involve training the users, telling them to go back to their cubes, log in, and figure things out. There first should be a strategy that involves measuring the user’s perceptions of the application before and after its implementation. Before users started using the application they might of had a perception of how their jobs will be impacted, whether positive or negative. It is important to ensure that if the perception is positive it continues to stay that way by making sure that user’s expectations are being met. If the perception was negative, then it is equally important to ensure that negative perceptions will be reversed by addressing the foundation of that perception. Otherwise, you risk loss of interest or effectiveness of the application in the organization resulting again in a failed project.

Next, evaluate the current work processes before the users interact with the application. Chances are that past processes and procedures will no longer be effective or needed. Current processes and procedures should be rewritten and augmented to fit within the context of the new application.

Lastly, the IT team should collaborate with users as they interact with the application. Evaluate how the users interact with the application. What areas are being used frequently and what areas aren’t being used? Next, you should be asking why. The reason for this is because too often the use of an application suddenly changes due to issues with performance, problems with a user interface, limited functionality, or it simply corrupts or displays the wrong data. These are things you need to know, but sometimes get shrugged off as “it’s not worth complaining about because nobody will fix it anyways". Adopting and implementing an application only gets you half of the way there in an IT project. It’s equally important to finish the last half of the project by measuring and evaluating how the application is used and the effects it has on the organization.