Edgewater Web Solutions practice director Ori Fishler presented 7 Innovative Strategies for Increasing Adoption at SharePoint Saturday New Jersey.

1. 7 Innovative Ways to Increase Adoption
Ori Fishler
Director, Web Solutions
Edgewater Consulting

2. SharePoint: A key cog in the organizational
machine

3. What many people see:

4. Adoption Issues and Challenges
► Most employees view SP as a burden with
little added value
► Lack of planning and organization makes
information hard to find
► Lack of governance makes a lot of content
obsolete
► Often SharePoint is used in parallel with
other systems creating duplication of work
► Perceived as “Complicated” or “Hard to Use”
► In some organizations previous bad
experience results in SP being a dirty word..

5. Measuring Adoption
► Web type metrics are not very useful (who cares about time
spent?)
► Metrics should focus on the business goals and applications of SP
and how successful SP is in filling them.
Usage Metrics
Internal
Communications
Web Metrics, Click to finding information
Document
Management
Decrease in emailing of documents and email size, reduced use of shared
folders
Project Management Project ontime completions
Enterprise Search Volume of searches
Social Collaboration Engagement level
Business Process
Reduction on cycle time
Automation

6. Keys to Adoption
► Overall attitude. Is SharePoint Good or Bad?
► Understanding Personal and Organizational value it provides
► Overcoming fears and mis-preceptions
► Obtaining proficiency
► Carrots & Sticks

7. 7 Innovative Approaches to Adoption
► Make it Indispensable - Put SharePoint in the line of business
► Rebrand & Dramatically improve the User Experience
► Killer Apps
► Turn it into a Social Hub
► Make it fun
► Designate an Owner & an Internal advocate group
► Invest in onboarding

8. Make it indispensable - Put SharePoint in the line
of business
SP Should be seen as an additional burden on top of regular work
but where work happens (and better!). It solves business
problems.
Examples of use:
► Document Management:
– A defined place for all types of content
– Strict control over use of network drives
– Enforcing version control
– Using Content types
– Document publishing workflows
► Use of SharePoint Tasks for internal processes and Wrokflows
► Standards for team meetings, minutes, action items
► Executive mandate and leading by example
► Value add applications that leverage SharePoint

9. Example: Extended Stay Hotels
► All HR and
Payroll forms and
approval process
► Renovation
projects for 800
hotels
► PMO site for
centralized
control

10. Rebrand & Dramatically improve the User
Experience
Standard Look:

11. Is this really SharePoint?

12. Rebranding – things to consider
► Custom design can help overcome initial hesitation
► Make it more familiar and inviting
► If not done right, can be difficult to upgrade
► Name change. If SharePoint == Bad give it a new name.

13. Killer Apps
► Co-Editing / Authoring
– Truly changes they way people
work
► Enterprise and People
Search
– Configuring SP to search other
document stores and websites
– People search + Lync
► Yammer

14. Make it Social
► Newsfeed or
Yammer
► Can be fully
integrated in
both On Prem
and O365

15. Make it fun!
► Gamification
– Sales competition
► Communities
– Leader board
► Blogs

16. Designate Owner & Internal advocate group
► One executive level owner
► Functional owner – Power
user
► Technical Owner
► Advocate group – business
and power users who meet
regularly to decide on
changes and priorities
► For large companies –
steering committee to
dedicate budgets, priorities
and resources

17. Invest in Onboarding
► 1:1 session with all
managers in the
organization
► Team onboarding with
manager
► Customized “10 best
features” based on job
► Custom web part for
filling profile
► Expert office hours –
dedicated time for
answering questions

18. Final Thoughts on Adoption
► Initial planning and well thought out structure is critical. Too
Agile, ad-hoc approach can lead to chaos.
► Governance plan that is well known. Who owns what.
► Try to leverage SP for custom applications instead of other
platforms or 3rd parties
► Track and measure over time according to established goals.
► Survey users regularly for top areas of frustration and address.

19. Contact
► Ori Fishler, Director, Web Solutions, Edgewater Technology Inc.
OFishler@edgewater.com

20. NEW JERSEY SHAREPOINT USER GROUP
• Different SharePoint discussions each
month on various topics. Announced on
meetup.com
• Meets 4th Tuesday of every month
• 6pm – 8pm
• Microsoft Office (MetroPark)
• 101 Wood Ave, Iselin, NJ 08830
• http://www.njspug.com

21. THANK YOU
EVENT SPONSORS
• Diamond & Platinum sponsors
have tables here in the Fireside
Lounge
• Please visit them and inquire
about their products & services
• Also to be eligible for prizes
make sure to get your bingo card
stamped