Skip to main content

Deep adoption; four simple steps


The parallels between trips I made to Daqing, China two decades ago and behavioral observations today around digital transformation are surprisingly similar.  When I was last in Daqing the population was approximately 1 million.  The roads in this remote city were filled mostly with mule drawn carriages and bicycles, very few automobiles. One evening, while eating God knows what, I commented to Chung, our host and translator, "it must be difficult for people not to have automobiles".  Chung responded, it is hard to miss something that you do not know.



That's it!  Most individuals in today's enterprises may only use a few pieces of technology; a transactional system (CRM, Accounting, Work order management), a communication system (typically email and or a messaging service, Word, Excel, PowerPoint), and possibly a special purpose application (AutoCAD,etc.).  While I have my "broad stroke paintbrush" in hand we might as well throw out that odds are people are using a small percentage of the functionality provided within any of the aforementioned tools.



We circle back to the parallels from China, if your employees are only familiar with email and Word for instance, it is next to impossible for most to contemplate what else is possible.  As a result you may move to "the cloud" and feel pretty good about yourself, look how modern I am... Unfortunately the reality may be that you are using these new tools in exactly the same manner as before, stymied by your past experience. 



Your approach, must be completely different. If you have read any of my previous posts you will see a theme around answering the question "why".  Over the last few years I find myself coming back to these four steps in my never ending search for complete adoption, they are:



  1. technical blocking and tackling | the first step, as you may imagine, is getting folks into the cloud. Many tools exist to help you and for the most part you need very little IT expertise
  2. laser focus | many people, even today within an enterprise, are skeptical of cloud technologies. Start with one or two applications from your platform, for instance you might start with email and messaging. Over time you will build confidence and pave the way for introducing new tools (many of which you are already paying for)
  3. digital dependency | slowly deploy core organizational functions from within your cloud platform. For instance, if the majority of your population requires a purchase order number, which you may have been handling on a shared network drive in Excel, move it over to your platform as a tool focusing on convenience and automation
  4. create a craving for transformation | we are now on the highway and looking for a higher gear as your community gets comfortable with the tools at their disposal. You will know you have arrived at your destination when folks begin to ask the question "I'm sure it can do XYZ, can you point me in the right direction".  I have found that showing solutions based on work conditions helps spark creativity in your users



Challenge your organization to answer this question, have you replaced your employees Schwinn bicycles with a modern Ford F150 and discovered they only drive on bike paths?



-----

Next post:  your face, our face

Thoughts?  feel free to leave replies or direct message

See all "last mile worker" posts here:  http://lastmileworkersolutions.com

-----

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

resilience, do you believe?

Seeking out the closest spot to the door of the office was not a common practice; however, at 07:00 on August 24th, 2022 the temperature was already 96' and 98% humidity.   The building would have a hell of a time keeping up today, rolling black-outs and brown-outs would be inevitable.   It likely won't be an outright equipment shut-down, instead we will have to endure the impending "brown-out" conditions, a slow, low voltage and high amperage stressing of our electrical infrastructure and connected systems. Our deliberate and continuous leverage of Industrial IoT (IIoT) technology and the companion AI prescriptive models have positioned us well. It had to be around the year 2018 when we invested in IIoT.   Heck, most were comparing our endeavors to the "Nest" thermostat, a pioneer (yet very fundamental) entrée into home-based IoT.   Naysayers were laughing that we would never see the benefits; however, our fragile National infrastructure and Mothe...
Post a Comment
Read more

is your "score", you?

Avid Andy begins to wonder if he may be schizophrenic.   Or could it be a sign of true genius when he can see a problem from all sides? Andy was reflecting on a service meeting that happened last week.   Conversation was around our ability to objectively measure things and make better decisions. At the center of almost any measurement environment are the fundamentals of math. To determine priority or influence, it seems logical when dealing with inanimate objects like sensors, assets, and sites in a portfolio to move towards "point-based systems". The real dilemma for Andy seemed to comes when we begin scoring humans and letting pre-determined algorithms establish an individuals path. Our service meeting quickly changed from tactical to philosophical discussions and one of the technicians, Pragmatic Paul, made mention of a black mirror program (Netflix) named "Nosedive".    In this futuristic episode, an individuals score dictates their behavior and those ...
Post a Comment
Read more

In$pired

As the steam from Avid Andy's coffee fogged his glasses on this crisp January morning, he reflected on last year and thought enthusiastically about the year ahead.   Sometimes the noise of business is deafening, we rarely take the time to contemplate our moves, instead are often thrown one direction or another.   Hey, face it, if you are reading posts to gain perspective you fall in the group of folks who pride themselves as obsequious hoop-jumpers.   We live to help others and expect that all of those around us feel the same way.   I just love Influential Irene.   Okay, it is out in the open, she is an inspiration for me and so many others.   Irene reminds folks every year, without fail, these three statements which she fondly refers to as "the punchline" (although this is no joke).   Businesses, of any size, will be successful if they remember that it is people that make a company.   Put this advice into practice, today: Sincerity |...
Post a Comment
Read more