Thoughts on User Adoption - Have You Considered a Pilot Program?

Cloud computing is not only changing the way we use our applications, but the way we implement them. The lack of hardware and software has a dramatic impact on the level of effort to deploy a cloud based app. Sign up, get your licenses, assign your users, and they now have access. This is quite a change from the days of provisioning servers, writing network topology diagrams, conducting security audits, configuring software, web services, and installing clients.

With all this change, it begs the question, "Are we implementing our applications the right way?". As a company we have lived through the heyday of client/server applications and have been embracing the move to the cloud. What we are now seeing is changes in the way these applications are selected and delivered. Traditionally, an organization would engage with a number of vendors, demo each product, run through the classic selection process, make a selection, finish an exhaustive requirements review, and finally drop in the new application.

Looking at things now, is this still the way to go? When it is SO EASY to provision application instances for preview, should you consider a pilot program instead? Here's a few reasons why pilots and trials are well suited to the cloud:

• No infrastructure concerns. The start-up time to get an application up and running is next to nothing compared to traditional client/server applications.
• Cloud applications are scalable. Start a simple pilot with a few users running a few tasks. If it's a win, expand your user base as necessary to get more staff on the application.
• Low start-up cost. Many cloud applications have flexible pricing models or free trials. Take advantage of these and run your experiment on someone else's dime.
• Build a core of power users early. A small pilot program is more manageable, so admins can spend more one on one time with the users.
• Fail faster. Getting staff into the application sooner rather than later means failures can be discovered very early in the trial process.
• Fail cheaper. Since it's early, your users base is small, and the investment is small, failures are less expensive. They occur early in the process giving more time for mitigation or recovery.
• Find out what your users are really doing with the application. It's easy to write down your thoughts on how the application should be used, but a pilot program is a great way to figure out what the users truly need and use. This leads to better understanding of requirements and implementation strategy going forward.

A few other tips for a successful pilot program:

• Select your users wisely. You need to find some people who are willing to embrace the new technology and able to have constructive conversations about its use. They cannot be too stuck in their old ways and have enough skill to embrace the new application.
• Define the pilot program. Set a start date, end date, and check-in meetings before it starts so everyone knows what they are getting involved with. Not only will this help with your users, but with management as well.
• Minimize scope. Define a few things that the application should be used for during the pilot program.
• Define success metrics. Define some very specific metrics that define if the pilot is indeed "successful". From there you can gauge the effectiveness of the product and decide if it's an investment worth making long term. Also be on the lookout for other, unexpected successes to help the application's value proposition.
• Provide immediate, intense support. Your pilot users are doing you and the company a favor by taking on extra work. Do whatever it takes to keep them happy and using the application. Remember, they are going to be your evangelists to the rest of the staff once the application goes mainstream.
• Look towards the future. As the pilot progresses, keep thinking about the future growth of the product. Think about more staff using it (Horizontal Growth), and staff using more features (Vertical Growth). How can you setup the application be able to deliver in both dimensions?

I hope this gives you a few ideas on an alternative approach to software rollouts. Pilot programs can be a very cost effective way to "vet" an application and figure out its strengths and weaknesses before making a large investment. Cloud computing as a technology is particularly well suited for pilot programs, so consider taking advantage of it.