31 May 2017
Peter Rowand
Marketing and Business Development

How to Make Software Sticky With Your Users

In order to be competitive, many of today’s businesses are offering a more complex range of services. This means that managing day-to-day work flows becomes more involved, and requires more planning and preparation. With this added operational complexity, it can be easy to become frustrated. But I choose to take a more practical view of this modern day business dilemma. Don’t hate, iterate.

Software can be an excellent tool for businesses that want to automate processes so that time and resources are more strategically allocated. But the fundamental problem is people driven. How can a business engage their people so they feel that they’re an integral part of a process change, and accept new software that’s been purchased to help them? Here are a few suggestions to make your new software sticky with your people:

  • Before you make a purchase decision, share the overall vision and objectives for the process change that have been set for the company, and clearly define how vital each employee is to reaching those goals. Being part of a team motivates people to learn and find new and creative ways to improve their performance. Fostering an environment where learning is considered a key component to success is a crucial component of any company’s sustained success.
  • There’s no perfect roadmap for implementing new tools and processes. Each business is different, and there are bound to be bumps along the way. The obstacles could be technical, tactical or cultural. Actively seek out positive and negative feedback, and commit to pinpointing where problems are occurring. Make the process of finding new solutions collaborative rather than exclusive.
  • One of the benefits of SaaS (Software as a Service) based tools is that they produce analytics. Use this real time data to make informed decisions that improve the user and customer experience.
  • Give your employees opportunities to lead the process of iterating new workflows and training others on tools that are being implemented to streamline their daily work. Utilize the strengths and weaknesses of each team member in order to make the collective team stronger. This leads to a culture where the process of continued improvement is both encouraged and sustainable.

When you actively engage your people in the implementation of new processes and the software that supports their work, more often than not, they’ll be much more likely to fully integrate the changes into their daily tasks. That is how you can make software sticky.