Launching or updating a product is always a difficult and strategic moment for a company. Whether we talk about Salesforce, SAP, ServiceNow or any other business application, this move requires a lot of human and financial resources, for an optimal adoption. No matter how prepared you are, the result is often the same: failure. Here are some interesting statistics:

• 60% of companies declare that features of their ERP do not match their initial requirements
• 62% indicate that adoption and utilization are below their expectations
• 75% mention that launching took place in conditions way below their projections

This problem is global for a company and can cost a lot of money: more than 100 million euro for Nike and several billion for Vodafone. Thus, these strategic projects need the attention of the whole product chain, from the sponsor to the end-user. Easier said than done…

What are the 3 main failure reasons?

• Users in different places all around the world. These applications are made to be used by thousands of people in several geographical areas. More than physical distance between users, specific needs of each area are a massive constraint for a global adoption. Finally, some “key users” are considered as “THE voice of users” whereas they are not representative of the global user community.

• Too many information. Communication between all users become difficult because of their volume. Furthermore, you often need to communicate through a Manager to directly reach business teams. At last, Yammer or Slack groups, even if they’re used, are completely drowning users into information.

• Hard to identify real needs. As mentioned before, “key users” do not represent the entire user community. Their improvement requirements are often too far from real needs: 43% of new features are not used by end-users. That said, “key users” shouldn’t have floor instead of any end-user.

4 efficient answers to ensure adoption

• Engage all users in the improvement of their applications. Involving users enables your company to secure the adequacy between applications and business needs in order to ensure adoption. Launching a strategic application is a global move, it is not done by a small group of people. That said, you need to provide yourself with adapted tools to collect feedbacks and business needs. These ones must also be multilingual in case of a global project.
• Have recurring reports to identify improvement requirements. Each report is your new compass! It guides you through the shadow and enables you to affect resources efficiently. With all teams affected smartly and a global user engagement, you are legitimate to prioritize business needs in order to meet user expectations.
• Communicate when updating. It is hard for users to be involved and defend a project if they are not aware of its progression. That’s why WeLoop provides you THE channel of communication with users to push them new features, updates…
• Create a community. Building a belonging feeling within your user community is key! It is not financially quantifiable but you’ll win their heart, which is priceless. When users feel part of a community, their involvement increases by more than 30%. Wins are dual: user engagement is stronger and you don’t spend money on useless features.