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The end of each year provides an opportunity for reflection on the past and preparation for the future. 2009 was quite a year – filled with new challenges and opportunities. But through it all, lessons were learned as people began to navigate through a changed business environment. In our series of Blogs “2009 Reflections,” we will be sharing interviews with Five Star team members who tell what they learned in 2009 and what they are preparing for in 2010.

In this blog post we will be sharing our recent interview with Cory Seaman.

Cory Seaman
Director, Research and Technology Services

What has ’09 taught you?
During the first half of the year we were not able to focus too heavily on what we’d hoped for the year—tackling technology challenges and developing new products for clients and for our own use. Recently I’ve spent a lot of time working with our development team on client projects because we’ve had some large, long-running projects and haven’t been able to take on new full-time resources. This has made me realize that you have to make the best of and remain fully engaged wherever circumstances take you.

What is the one big lesson that you learned this year?
Flexibility is one of the most difficult and one of the most critical attributes to demonstrate during times of economic difficulty. Adaptability has been exemplified by our staff; people have done a phenomenal job adjusting and making personal sacrifices where necessary They have reacted well to changing expectations when it’s been extremely hard to do so.

What is your biggest personal accomplishment?
Reaching the latest delivery milestones with the technology development team for a program launch. Since my role doesn’t frequently allow me to work full-time as a part of the development team, it was great to help out.

What do you believe is Five Star’s biggest accomplishment this year?
I think the fact that we’ve retained our footing and have come through some difficult choices in the face of adversity this year, combined with the fact that we continue to be one of Pennsylvania’s Best Places to Work is a testament to the excellence and perseverance of our company.

How are you going to transfer what you learned in 2009 to 2010?
There are a number of things I would like to improve within our network infrastructure, such as introducing Windows 7. I also learned a lot from a Microsoft Technology Conference that I would like to continue implementing in 2010, beginning with the consolidation of our web and application servers through virtualization. This will allow us to save energy, lower costs, and reduce our hardware footprint.

What do you hope to learn in 2010?
My hope has been to continue growing my research role and exposing Five Star to the new or existing technologies that we can best leverage as a company. I’m also anxious to find opportunities to create “shelf ready” projects and map out some new tools and technologies that we can offer to our clients.

Final thoughts
This is an interesting time because there are a lot of new tools available, but there are also a lot of tight belts in terms of budgets and financial resources that necessarily limit what we’re able to do. It’s also a challenge to balance client needs with our own at times. But with a better outlook on the horizon and a number of new avenues to pursue, it’s hard not to be excited about the year ahead.

Below is video from our recent webinar on “6 Best Practices for Gaining End-user Adoption of New Technology.” In this video Dave Colaizzi discusses the value of change management, change communications, training, and performance support in gaining end-user adoption of new technology.

Below is video from our recent webinar on “6 Best Practices for Gaining End-user Adoption of New Technology.” In this video Dave Colaizzi discusses strategies for gaining end-user and stakeholder buy-in for new technology.

The adoption of new software or technology may be difficult, especially when end-user expectations surrounding it are high or left unmet. How can those designing and implementing new software and technology best bridge the gap between the reality of what the software can/will do and end-user wants, needs, and expectations?

The road to linking reality to end-user expectations begins with a systematic assessment of needs and the documentation of software requirements. In this blog post, we will discuss three techniques that we have employed to help our clients understand end-user needs and identify requirements:

• Exploration meetings with stakeholders and targeted end-users.
  Focused meetings to observe, ask questions, and listen to your key stakeholders about what they like or dislike about performing a task or process.
• Assessment of the intended deployment environment.
  Asking questions about how the software or technology will be used and where it will be hosted is critical to gaining a clear picture of future limitations and requirements. For example, ask questions like:
  • Who will help the user when they run into a usability issue?
  • What are the corporate standards and guidelines?
  • What is the culture of the target audience?
  • What applications have had successes with the target audience in the past?
  • What features do target users look for and like in other applications?
  • How will the software or application modify the process of executing work?
  • Are there bandwidth limitations?
  • Can custom programs be installed on user computers?
  • Is support for certain software platforms required or prohibited?
• Use Cases, mockups, and prototypes.
  • A Use Case is one of the most helpful methods of exposing functional requirements. But one word of caution: as you build them be sure to exclude technical jargon and the inner workings of the software.
  • A Mockup, or a rough visual layout of the user interface, enables end-users to experience the software or application before it is completely developed. By gathering feedback, it is possible to assess how the software is able to meet, or fail to meet, end-user expectations. Also, end-users can reveal their stylistic preferences that may be difficult to capture otherwise. Below is an example of a mock-up created by one of our developers using Microsoft’s newest tool, Expression Blend™.

• Lastly, Prototypes, either partially or fully functional, can be very helpful in determining usability. A prototype will give you an accurate depiction of how well end-users believe the program will meet their objectives. You can incorporate their feedback into future iterations of the software before the program is fully built.

These three techniques are some of the many that can be employed in order to best bridge the gap between the reality of what the software can/will do and end-user wants, needs, and expectations. By taking the time to listen and educate your stakeholders and end-users, the likelihood of a successful integration of new software or technology will greatly increase.

Below is video from our recent webinar on “6 Best Practices for Gaining End-user Adoption of New Technology.” In this video  Dave Colaizzi discusses the value of Focused and Aligned Leaders in gaining end-user adoption of new technology. In addition, he discusses best practices for creating a focused and aligned leadership team.

So, you have decided to implement Social Media within your organization. Now, what?
By nature, Social Media provides people with resources and tools for accessing information they deem valuable. However, the ability to access this information is not always reason enough to motivate people to adopt and use new Social Media. Knowing this, what steps should you take to get people excited and motivated to start using your new Social Media?

Consider the following as you create an implementation strategy:

1. Identify your application’s purpose and communicate it!
   There are many reasons why people choose to use Social Media, but at the root of it all are three desires: connect with others, build relationships, and create shared communities. What makes Social Media unique among all new technology is its ability to provide people who have similar interests and passions with a way to connect and create shared communities of common interest. As you build your implementation strategy, is it vital that you keep these desires front-of-mind and communicate how your application will either improve or help to remove obstacles hindering people from doing any or all of them.
2. Engage early adopters and share their thoughts with others.
   Engaging people who are already using other Social Media applications or who are early adopters can help you do three things. First, by engaging these people you are able to quickly gather insights into the perceived value of your application so that you can make changes that will benefit the larger population. Next, feedback from these people can be used to actively market the application to others. Most importantly, word-of-mouth recommendations and referrals from these people help to create buzz and raise awareness about your application and its value to others.
3. Don’t forget to engage the big cheese.
   People want to feel that their contributions are of value and that they play an active role in shaping the quality of their own lives and the quality of their future work. Therefore, it goes without saying that if people feel that their contributions are of no value, they will not participate. It is for this reason that getting influential people (like senior leaders and executives) within the organization informed and engaged is so important. A great example of this was illustrated by Bell Canada’s implementation of “ID-ah!” (a Social Media application for gathering and rank ordering ideas for improving the company). Once employees knew that senior leaders of the company were reading the posts and had a sincere desire to implement the best ideas (a total of 12 ideas have been implemented), the adoption and usage of the application rapidly increased.
4. Promote through other technology and think interactive.
   As you actively market and promote your new Social Media, be sure to seek ways to link and promote it on other heavily trafficked sites and resources being used within your organization. For example, if your organization has an Internet site or enterprise portal, look for ways to partner with the owners of these sites. Some ideas include trading links or creating interactive campaigns that “drive” users from their site to yours.

As you roll out new Social Media applications, be sure to focus on these considerations. We would like to learn more about how you are exciting and motivating people in your organization to use new Social Media. Feel free to comment below!