I sat through a very interesting presentation yesterday. The topic was how the software industry has fundamentally changed and that services is a growing part of software company revenue, whether they like it or not. Customers expect solutions these days and aren’t interested in having a disk shipped to them and wishes for good luck. While this is interesting, the key takeaway for me was a statistic on achieving enterprise software success.
According to a study done by the Sand Hill Group and Neochange, the most critical factor (70% listed as number 1) for software success and return-on-investment is effective user adoption. Software functionality came in at 1% surprisingly, with organization change at 16% and process alignment at 13%. This is a remarkable result. You can have the best software in the world, with the most sophisticated features, analytics and integration, blah blah blah, but if people don’t use it, it isn’t going to add value. I can’t tell you how many RFPs and software selection processes I’ve been involved with in prior lives that focus almost exclusively on tiny little, “knat’s ass” features that few people if at all will ever use. This study shows that focusing so much on features is missing the boat entirely.
There are several factors contributing to effective user adoption that include:
- Training
- Change management strategies and tactics
- Executive support
- Software ease-of-use
- Etc.
I’m very encouraged by this as a predictor for GroupSwim’s success. We have built an incredibly easy-to-use application that is fun to use. Our customers and analysts have told us this time and time again. It is a fact that GroupSwim is easy to use and requires no training. If you believe this, we have half the requirements covered without spending a dime. If our customers and prospects use the application to change how they work or interact with their customers and partners, they get LOTS of value while expending very little effort or capital. I hope to see more studies like this in the future 
Tags: GroupSwim, Software, Enterprise, Adoption, Users, User-Adoption
