Share Point usage in an organisation is like a relationship, needs focus, time and energy to work correctly.

SharePoint site adaptation is one of the vital points of Share Point success. Just launching the platform won’t ensure adaptation within an organisation, as it only gives a “shelfware” scenario. Implementation of any new business system like Share Point needs acceptance and adjustment to boost up benefit end users.

During the phase of Share Point customisation, involve power users who advocate share point usage to collect a great deal of information as you can’t implement SharePoint without the involvement of the adaptation team.  That will create a roll-out plan to embrace communication and training prospects. Meet them regularly and solicit feedback.  Make out “owners” that strengthen leadership’s support of the new track so that users can talk to when they need help.

As we’ve already discussed the Pitfalls of SharePoint user adoption, here are the six steps to boost SharePoint user adoption.

Pilot the program

During the SharePoint customisation, recruit a group of users who are more excited about the change to serve as your beta testers. Involve them every step in the way of SharePoint customisation before releasing it to the rest of the organisation. These Share Points advocates will serve as evangelists and as a funnel to other members of the organisation.

Do the Demonstration

Always start SharePoint implementation with a demo to keep potential users updated. Don’t ever assume that users know what the Share Point is.  Prepare a demo from their perspective, suggest the benefits and show them the out of box functionality. Convey them the logic behind the change and frame and demonstrates how SharePoint features will be beneficial for their jobs.

Look forward to the problems of users who aren’t confident with new technologies to get your point across. For example, users will feel anxiety if they are expected to understand the SharePoint quickly. SharePointusage will face problems if users are left to crack the Share Point usage on their own.

Provide Training

Another point with the central impact on SharePoint adoption is training!  You should train and form a rocking SharePoint team to ensure everyone can perform his or her duties. This training can be in the form of a quick 30- minute’s workshops or online training if users are remote.  Align this training within the framework of the work scenarios rather than just telling them the functions of different buttons.

Implement SharePoint in Segments

Usually, users are resistant to change, so support them to adopt SharePoint’s capabilities by not implementing it all at once. Divide SharePoint implementation into small, manageable segments and prioritise these segments to roll them out one by one to make it easy for users to adopt new habits.  

Respond Quickly

Be quick with the needs of the users. If employees ask for more significant search capabilities and a new tool to capture documents, don’t hesitate to look to a third party to supply this tool.

Stay Connected

Stay connected with the users regarding issues and improvements even after successful SharePoint roll-out. Use different means of communications to get your point and build a feedback mechanism that will help users communicate an accurate list of what users think and need. Send project’s updates by regular mails and create a social media group to response user’s queries.

KeaPoint is a SharePoint & Office 365 consultancy based in the UK, dedicated to empowering users through smart solutions. Our experience and skill set continues to expand in many areas. We develop solutions according to the best business practices in the industry.

If your organisation needs assistance with SharePoint & Office 365 and would like to see how KeaPoint can help, please get in touch.