If your organization is thinking of investing in a new Dynamics 365 system or had it recently deployed, your employees must experience a positive improvement in the way they work from the application to capitalize on this opportunity.
Poor user adoption is consistently cited as the main reason many CRM projects fail to achieve their goals. When organization's focus only on completing the implementation on time or within the budget, they risk failing to consider what's required to secure end-user adoption.
How can you ensure end-users embrace new CRM technology and keep them engaged so they continue deriving value in the long term?
1. Keep it simple
At least in the beginning, walk before you run!, Initially, you might not require the complete set of functionality available within a specific Dynamics module. Avoid overwhelming end users with features you don't need now. Decide what's essential to drive early results. Welcome and encourage suggestions on how to improve the application for the good of the business.
2. Secure buy-in from key business users from the start.
When key users are involved in these planning decisions, the input/suggestions are more likely to be relevant to their usage needs.
They should be part of the product demonstrations or trials to identify how Dynamics 365 should be personalized to solve their team's challenges. This way, the deployed system will be aligned to users' expectations, and they will have a more significant stake in the CRM project to ensure it is a success.
Keeping them involved in all stages of the project, planning, trial, acceptance testing etc. will ensure that the users requirements are covered as many projects struggle with adoption because the critical stakeholders involved change at each stage, and no one has a clear vision of what they want from the system.
3. Communication is key
As with all new systems, some team members may be wary and resistant to change. . Develop an internal communication plan that details what is changing, why this is happening, when it will take effect, who will be affected, and what is needed before the go-live, so they don’t feel overwhelmed. This needs to be done often as well as keeping everyone informed as the project goes through all the implementation stages. Relating back to the key business users involvement, getting them to give regular updates/feedback to the staff will help make them more likely to accept the change.
To gain their buy-in, show how Dynamics 365 will make their working day more manageable by promoting the direct benefits the system can achieve for them.
Anything that will make their work lives easier will be welcomed.
4. Invest time in training.
When it comes to user training every business is different and the training agenda needs to be customized and focused on the functionality/features being deployed. For instance, the priorities of sales and marketing teams and what they look for in a CRM system are different, and the training should reflect that.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 does contain advanced functions and capabilities where in-depth training will enable users to benefit more fully. Careful training planning also needs to be considered when onboarding staff who work remotely or in a hybrid model.
5. Integrate with other systems to save time and money
If you've already deployed Dynamics, but employees continue to struggle between different apps manual processes, adoption is unlikely to pick up. That's why you need to identify opportunities to integrate Dynamics with other applications such as your telephone system. As a result, users will benefit from using a single application to work with their data and simplify their processes.
A fully integrated solution gives your staff more time to do their job, improves efficiency, and prevents users from seeing CRM as another disconnected system that increases their workload.