Recently during a workshop on user adoption strategies by Michael Sampson, one of the attendees remarked how user adoption seems to be very different for mobile devices than it is for other technology. He noticed how very badly written (or not written at all) announcements or instructions for anything to do with mobile devise use are still effective. Yet very well thought and positioned materials on the collaboration platform were not doing anything at all.
So why is
it that we achieve great user adoption on getting employees to use mobile
devices, but not such good user adoption on using their collaboration platform?
As Michael
clearly answered there is a big difference in people using their mobile
devices, and people using a collaboration platform. A mobile device is
something they use personally. Often it is even their private device. Changing
the way I work, using my mobile device doesn’t require
anybody else to change with me. I can easily start using my mobile device for
e-mail, without my colleagues having to use a mobile device. They can continue
to use their desktop application.
A
collaboration platform, such as Office 365 or IBM Connections, does require a
group of people to change the way they work. There is no way I could start
using online co-authoring documents, or sharing travel reports in a community
blog without my colleagues using this too! Often it becomes complex to shift to
another way of working collectively. There are different needs, governance,
security and culture to address. Making the change collectively therefore is
much slower, and requires different efforts.
According
to B.J. Fogg, as explained in his Behaviour Model, in order to change behavior 3 things need to be present at the same
time: motivation, ability and trigger. This is true for an individual of course, but could apply
to a group or organization as a whole as well.
So what
does this model mean? In short, in order to achieve a target behavior (your
goal, but could be broken down into smaller steps) a person needs to be motivated to do so, and needs to be able to do it. Motivation makes you put in the effort. Ability means you have the time, money or resources to do it.
A person
could be highly motivated, yet have low ability, but still reach the target behavior.
Or a person could have low motivation but high ability and reach the target behavior.
But most importantly we need the 3rd factor: a trigger. A trigger
functions as a reminder for us to do the new behaviour. A trigger could be an
alarm, seeing someone’s face, or an existing habit. When we combine an existing
habit, to be followed by the new habit, that’s when we most easily achieve a
change in behaviour.
What
happens with mobile device use, is that the motivation to use it is in general very
high, as compared to other tools made available to employees. The ability to
use them is also often quite high. People use their device for lots of things,
also besides work, and devices are becoming easier to use all the time. The
trigger is something that is always there with mobile devices. In fact, that is
why a lot of people are so hooked to their phones. They are constantly being
reminded by apps showing badges, makings sounds or even gamification techniques
to keep them going at it.
So why do I
think we do not need a lot of adoption strategies for getting people to use –
for example – e-mail on their mobile device? Because they are highly motivated
to have and work with a mobile device. It allows them to work from home or
on-the-go. Mobile phones are becoming so mainstream that in general people know
how to operate them, especially since it is the same for personal use as for
business use. More and more organizations allow people to bring their own
device, or supply one if necessary. They are simply available. Mobile devices
are great to trigger people into using them (all the time!) which makes them
use it a lot and for more and more situations.
