The Top 10 Ways To Improve Office 365 & SharePoint Adoption - Collab365

Editor's Notes

1. In your organization has anyone ever suggested that you only use a percentage of the functionality or a percentage of what’s possible with Microsoft Office 365? How about just one technology like Outlook? Do you think you or your users are using most of the functionality that exists in Outlook today? What about SharePoint? Do you use more than 50% of what’s available in SharePoint? Are they using it at all? Its okay if the answer is no, we don’t use all that Office 365 can provide. No, not all of our users are actively using Office 365 yet. No, not only do I not know all of the things you can do with Outlook or SharePoint but our users definitely aren’t aware of what they could do. What’s not okay is to do nothing about it. To not have a plan for helping your users adopt, understand and leverage the full suite of Office 365 available to them. You should do something about it. That’s why white papers like this exist. To help you and your organization improve. Not all of the features and functions in Office 365 are meant for daily and frequent use, but we bet you can think of some that would make a world of difference if your whole organization adopted their use. How much more value could your organization realize if users universally used 20% more of the robust document management features SharePoint provides? Getting more people to use a technology is important. But so is and getting them to use more of the technology.
2. User subscription based licensing: If our customers’ users aren’t using Office 365… why would they continue paying for it? Smarter based on usage: The more people use the platform the more value the technology provides (Delve example). It also helps us build better experiences and target enhancements (in organizations and in Microsoft).
3. This stance can make many companies uncomfortable, but doesn’t normally escalate to anything more than a closed door conversation or two. You may ask yourself, “Why is it so important to get everyone on board?” There are quite a few reasons… 
4. Notice I said leaders – not necessarily site owners etc – this is important. You want the leaders of a site/initiative to know how frequently it’s being used, by what departments/users etc.
5. Providing regular improvements means there is always something new to try or new uses to share and spark/cultivate curiosity. Even announcing major and minor releases can add a sense of continued investment in the platform from the business.
6. Pay special attention to the Outlook column. Look at how few scenarios Outlook or email based options are the best way to do things. Now consider your organization – if email is the only actively used aspect of Office 365 you are really missing out!
7. User feedback helps identify where you’ve got adoption challenges Provide an opportunity to provide feedback on every page of your site Get up out of your desk and ASK for feedback! Conduct usability tests and LISTEN to what people say but WATCH what they do
8. Not only running surveys, but also announcing/sharing when survey responses are acted on or used to assist a major decision.
9. By adding a button or option to allow users to submit success stories (related to the portal/intranet) it can lead to many people initiating the submission or sharing of success messages (which shows the value, and helps provide real personal stories of how it helps).
10. When new solutions are developed by IT or the business that leverage SharePoint it can be extremely useful to showcase the solution. Who owns it, what its purpose is, what benefit it has provided (ROI would be great), screen shots, and more. This often leads to two useful things: Users engage with one another (the owner of the solution is often a business person) which decreases cost of ownership for IT and expedites the requirements gathering process (when the business user says I want ‘that’). It encourages those who have adopted or are using the platform to share their successes, be proud of them, and to have them articulated in a consistent way.