Tech Startup Growth Hacking 101 - Basics on Growth Marketing
Ariba Knowledge Nuggets - Adoption and Usage Back to Basics
1. Ariba Knowledge
Nuggets
Do not make the mistake of thinking adoption will automatically happen. There are always
bumps in the road. There is always one team member that is a squeaky wheel, who does
not want to login or change the way he or she works. In our experience, the 'squeaky
wheel' people are usually the ones who do not want the transparency, visibility and
accountability that our tools provide. Why? They are usually the team members whose
tasks are behind schedule. Within your Ariba tool, you can now show which team members
are lagging. So, know now that you may have resistance and that the resistors may very
well be your most vocal antagonists.
What should you do when you encounter resistance?
The best thing to do is to plan for resistance. Even the most cooperative team members
find change difficult. We see many customers develop a 'carrot' or a 'stick' program that will
incentivize team members to attend training, learn the application, and start using the
software. First, ask yourself if your organization and team members will respond better to a
carrot or stick program, or perhaps a hybrid combination of both.
What do I mean by 'carrot' program?
An example is a retail organization with over 400 team members using Ariba Sourcing. One
part of their carrot program was to hold a friendly competition among departments or
teams with respect to RFx creation. They measured team members creating sourcing RFx’s
on a weekly basis. Then they sent out an email to the entire company announcing each
team's percentage. For example, 88% of Department A's team members successfully
started sourcing events on Friday. Department B's team members had a 95% compliance,
so Department B won. The prize was a pizza party for the winning department at next
Friday's lunch time. Because the organization's corporate culture is edgy, young and fun,
this type of carrot incentive program worked.
What do I mean by 'stick' program?
Another professional services customer of uses Ariba’s Time and Expense entry features.
One of their issues prior to using our solution was that team members would wait too long
to submit travel and expenses associated with their customer projects. This impacted their
bottom line in a severe way. For example, the customer would be invoiced 30 days after the
engagement, then the team member's expenses would come rolling in. As the final
customer invoice already went out, the organization had to absorb these costs. When they
launched our software, the leadership stated that all expenses had to be entered and
submitted within 30 days, or else the team member would not be reimbursed. The result? It
only took a team member one time to learn the hard lesson of not getting his or her
expenses paid back, then compliance was gained.
If neither of these examples fits your culture, then maybe a hybrid approach is called for.
Either direction, or even a creative approach of your own is very important. Return on
investment is dependant upon adoption and usage of your software. If you are having
successful adoption of your Ariba platform, please take time to share your story out on
Ariba Exchange.
2. Common Mistakes with Software Adoption - Some of the common misconceptions and oversights in the adoption process!
1. Lack of clearly defined goals—Like the old adage says, if you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll never know when you’ve arrived.
Successful implementation of any collaborative software involves a lot of people, perhaps even everyone at your organization. It is
imperative that you have a unified vision of the end goal. What do you want this tool to do for you? What efficiencies do you expect to
gain by using this tool? How much money do you plan on saving by using the software? Without these types of goals, you have no
metrics with which to measure success.
2. Limited sponsorship—Collaborative software often impacts every level of your organization. Too often, executive sponsorship is
fostered during the selection process, then all but forgotten during implementation and rollout. Executive sponsorship is key throughout
the entire process, from selection through final adoption and continuous improvement. Let the executives and upper-level managers
know that their continued and public involvement is desired and necessary. Lack of visible involvement from executive sponsors sends a
message to all other users that the tool has little value for the overall organization.
3. No clearly defined processes—Trying to implement software without clearly defined processes is like trying to direct a caravan
across the country without a map. If you are rolling out a piece of software to a handful of people, it may be possible to “feel your way in
the dark,” but trying to include more than a few people without designing the process interactions, is almost certainly going to fail. These
processes should define who will interact with the system and in what way. They will be the basis for configuring access to the system
and workflow through the tool. Without these clearly defined and documented processes, you will have little chance of widespread
success.
4. Poor communication of processes and responsibilities—Once the processes are defined, they need to be communicated to the
entire team. Not just the executives and managers, but the users as well. Everyone should understand how the system will be used.
These are not secrets to be kept by “those in the know.” It is difficult, perhaps impossible, to achieve widespread adoption, if there is
confusion about how to use the system. User training, custom usage guides and providing a support channel for users are all key to good
communication.
5. Confusing the tool for proper training and discipline—No matter how well designed or easy to use a system is, it will not be
sufficient to just let your users loose to learn on their own. They need guidance and direction. This includes proper training and defined
responsibilities and discipline. If users are not trained to use the system in a consistent manner, then they will, find different ways to use
it, which it leads to inconsistent data and worthless reporting.
6. Lacking formal agreement of new responsibilities—When a new system is implemented, there are new tasks and responsibilities
that naturally arise. People will be assigned to handle these responsibilities and it should be made clear to everyone who those people
are and what responsibilities they have regarding the new system. This is important, not only to let users know who to contact when they
have questions, but also to foster ownership at different levels of the system. Poorly defined and communicated responsibilities can lead
to confusion, disinterest and, eventually, to utter failure of the adoption.
7. Believing that managerial mandate can drive adoption at the user level—Widespread adoption of any software requires
commitment and loyalty, or, at least conformance, from the users. This individual “buy-in” is rarely motivated solely by an order to use the
software. Users need to understand why the software is being implemented and they need to understand the benefits of the software.
Without this, they may follow orders for a while, then mutiny. Now, that’s not to say that there won’t be dissenters; there will be, however,
your implementation will be more successful if you get support from individuals.
8. Waiting for the perfect implementation—“Waiting for the perfect implementation,” means trying to get everything right the first time.
It means that all users will be brought on the system in one day. It means that an organization will try to use all of the advanced features
on Day One. It means that all integration with external systems will be completed before anyone will have access to the system. This
approach is flawed, because it tries to do too much, too fast. Almost any collaborative software is going to involve a dramatic change in
culture. Doing too much, too fast can lead to confusion and pushback. Just remember that, no matter how hard you try, no matter how
many people you talk to, no matter what decisions are made, there are things about your implementation that WILL change. This doesn't
mean that you should throw everyone in on the first day – far from it, but it does mean that you need to be careful to avoid “paralysis
through analysis.”
9. Failure to encourage end-user feedback—End users generally make up the majority of the software users. All too often, input from
end users is ignored, or not solicited at all. This leads to implementations and design decisions that don’t meet the needs of the users. It
is important to get feedback from all levels of the organization. Executives and Managers want good reports and end users want
something that is easy to use and provides value to them. Implementations without end user feedback almost certainly end in mutiny.
10. Believing that training is a one-time event—Studies have shown that people learn best by repetition. A single training, while
sufficient or some, will not achieve the adoption results you expect and hope for. Many users will need to be reminded. Often it works
best to have an introduction training session where the processes are explained and the product is introduced, then to have the users
actually use the system for a short period of time, then to conduct follow-up trainings at to allow users to ask questions, to provide
additional product instructions, or to introduce advanced topics or share ideas on usage. And, of course, providing a support channel for
the users that makes it easy for them to get questions answered, is key.
4. Organization
This would be a good place to insert a short
paragraph about your organization. It might
include the purpose of the organization, its mis-
sion, founding date, and a brief history. You
Ariba, Inc. could also include a brief list of the types of
products, services, or programs your organiza-
Primary Business Address
Your Address Line 2 tion offers, the geographic area covered (for ex-
Your Address Line 3 ample, western U.S. or European markets), and
Your Address Line 4
a profile of the types of customers or members
Phone: 555-555-5555
served.
Fax: 555-555-5555
E-mail: It would also be useful to include a contact name
someone@example.com
for readers who want more information about
the organization.
We’re on the Web!
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Your business tag
line here.
Back Page Story Headline
This story can fit 175-225 words. include a listing of those here. image or some other graphic.
If your newsletter is folded and You may want to refer your read-
mailed, this story will appear on ers to any other forms of commu-
the back. So, it’s a good idea to nication that you’ve created for
make it easy to read at a glance. your organiza-
tion.
A question and answer session is
a good way to quickly capture the You can also use
attention of readers. You can ei- this space to re-
ther compile questions that you’ve mind readers to
received since the last edition or mark their calen-
you can summarize some generic dars for a regular
questions that are frequently event, such as a
asked about your organization. breakfast meet-
ing for vendors
A listing of names and titles of every third Tues-
managers in your organization is day of the month,
a good way to give your newslet- or a biannual
ter a personal touch. If your or- charity auction.
ganization is small, you may want
to list the names of all employees. If space is avail-
able, this is a Caption describing picture or
If you have any prices of standard good place to graphic.
products or services, you can insert a clip art
