P&P August 2015

technology speaks By Rich Bowlen

The Curious Case of User Adoption

H uman service agencies are being asked to deliver an increasing volume of quality services more than ever before. With a stressed workforce and rising caseloads, many agencies are turning to technology modernization to help mitigate the impact of the complex business problems facing human services. Here’s the bad news: Technology alone is not the answer. Many organi- zations discover this harsh truth after investing time and money into a major information technology (IT) project that ultimately fails to achieve the intended outcomes of improved worker productivity, long-term financial savings, and most important, improved service to clients. Although organizations may be tempted to blame the technology itself, most large IT projects fail because of one preventable issue: poor user adoption. Despite the best efforts of the IT project’s training staff, users do not ultimately use the new system as intended when they lack an under- standing of how it helps to solve their individual business problems and serve their clients. In turn, organizations fail to achieve the intended benefits of the new technology.

What Are the Reasons for Poor User Adoption? Even the best technology solutions will not provide maximum results if the people who use them don’t under- stand how the system fits into their daily work to help clients. To make sure they have the information they need, workers will create renegade systems using Microsoft Excel® spreadsheets, unsupported apps, or revert to paper- based processes. Major culprits of poor user adoption include: Š Š Software and user interfaces do not follow end users’ natural processes Š Š End users are not engaged in the project design from the beginning Š Š Traditional training does not support how end users work How Can Human Services ProtectTechnology Investments? For years, human service organi- zations have consistently utilized coaching, formally or informally, within their agencies to promote learning and skill development of their frontline workers. This approach has demonstrated the ability for workers to adopt new skills in a more effective

and efficient manner. So why should learning how to apply today’s mod- ernized methods for information collection, organization, and distribu- tion be any different? By following two key tenets of a coach model approach to training, human service staff can ensure user acceptance, and ultimately, better service delivery. 1. Tailored training and targeted support For training to be successful, it must be tailored specifically to the workers who will rely on the system in difficult and potentially life-altering situations. A typical lecture-heavy, classroom- style training session will likely fall short for human service workers. Studies show that one-on-one training in a personal work environment can greatly boost understanding and adoption as workers move to rely on the system for daily use. Workers actually increase productivity by 86 percent when coaching is added to training. For caseworkers in an office environ- ment, this means having trainers close at hand to watch and guide them as they

See User Adoption on page 37

August 2015   Policy&Practice 27