User adoption in technology projects can often appear like a New Year’s resolution: Dream big in January, with good intentions by February and forgotten by July. How can we help you stick to your adoption resolutions?

Every new customer of ServiceMax asks the very thoughtful question, “How can you ensure adoption?” Well the truth is, we can’t.  Adoption is just as much as much about you as it is about us. Adoption is a team effort.

There are 3 main principles in creating adoption of ServiceMax. You’ve made a significant financial investment and our job is help you actualize your ROI and create a program that benefits your business through enabling your users.

Think of this program as going to BAT!

  •  Create a Baseline
  • Assign a Progress to Goal Plan
  • Empower a Team to get your there

Where do we start? The best place to start is where you are. Just like starting a new diet, or taking a healthy look at your finances, knowing exactly where you stand today is the best start for you. This is unique to your company and the effort in creating your baseline is the best possible time and planning you will spend throughout your project.

Create a Baseline

Where are you? Start by selecting a handful of measurements that you track today. Think about not only the metric but also the details that go into how it’s measured. For example:

If you are tracking FTF (First Time Fix) what kind of work orders are included? Are these break-fixes only? Does the product type or family or some other logical grouping go into your FTFs metrics? Take the time to review and understand what goes into the metric, then lay out a plan to manage the plan using ServiceMax. In some instances, you may determine your baseline needs adjusting before going forward.

Assign a Progress to Goal Plan

Remember that diet? While your goal may be to lose 50lbs, you know you can’t possibly lose the weigh quickly and expect to keep it off.  Slow and steady is the plan for assigning your progress to goal plan.

Taking your baseline into consideration, in addition to any business factors like company growth, new product lines, etc. the progress chart should be a steady and sustainable plan that allows for review and adjustments to keep your plan moving forward.

For example, going to back to your FTF, if your current FTF rate is 50% is your goal to increase it? Regardless of your goal percentage, create a plan that will get you to a sustainable goal in a paced manner. If your goal is to increase FTF by 10% this fiscal year, be specific regarding product lines, complexity of issues, geographies, R&D and other contributing factors that may impede or accelerate your plan to goal.  Repeat this exercise for all of your baseline metrics until you feel you have a thoughtful approach that will move your team forward to your goal.

Empower a Team to get you there

Your team is the overall key to adoption success.  A small group of decision makers sitting in a Board Room is a great start to the vision of the team, but the true adoption takes place when you select a team of people who will collaborate with you and see your vision through to the end.

Your team is your sounding board. Remember the baseline metrics? Have them discuss these metrics with you. Your vision of what is occurring in the field may be very different that what is actually happening.

Provide your team the appropriate time to positively affect your adoption goals. Make their role with ServiceMax part of their key objectives and plan on investing additional training to make them as successful as possible.

This is the team that will help you actualize your adoption goals.  Start with these three steps to get your adoption plans in place. This is the team in Spring Training. Stay tuned for new blogs on getting your team through the Opening Day!