In our last post, we looked at the state of adoption for Microsoft Teams, concluding that despite the hype, Teams usage is clearly in its early stages, being used mostly by innovators and early adopters.

Early adopters are risk takers who seek out new technology to solve problems. By contrast, mainstream users (who make up 75% of the market) are risk averse; these folks are reluctant to change familiar habits, even if they perceive new methods to be better than their existing ones. These folks resist the introduction of new tools and technology because they perceive that what they are doing works just fine.

So, rather than trying to coerce mainstream users into using Teams, it is important to understand their challenges, and to meet these challenges head on. This is the most effective way to attain adoption levels that will deliver the benefits available via Microsoft Teams.

Mainstream User Challenges

There are three primary obstacles to inducing mainstream users to adopt Microsoft Teams; they are:

• Changing Behavior is tough - “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is the motto of the typical mainstream user. These people don’t see the advantages afforded by new tools like Microsoft Teams, so they resist them at all cost. They don’t want to waste time learning new tools, they’ve got ‘real work to do.’ Extolling the benefits of the enhanced teamwork afforded by Teams will simply fall on deaf ears.
• Email – mainstream users love email. Even if you could convince these folks to try Teams, they don’t understand when to use Teams and when to continue to use email. So, they will likely try Teams internally, while continuing to use mail to communicate with outside parties. The situation creates disconnected conversations that are difficult to piece together. Part of a business discussion might be contained in an email, while other parts might be in a Teams conversation. As a result, important information falls in the cracks between email and Teams. Getting work done becomes more difficult, not simpler. Until you find a way to reconcile parallel email and Teams conversations, mainstream users will resist moving to Teams.
• Too Many Channels – Even if you can get mainstream users to try Teams, they will soon find that there are too many channels to find what they need. It’s like a bad cable TV nightmare; you wake up one day and find you have hundreds of channels and most of them are useless. The result? Mainstream users revert to what they know best… email.

How do you overcome these obstacles?

Bringing Teams to Mainstream Workers

Attend the harmon.ie webinar Teams Adoption and harmon.ie to learn two key strategies for overcoming obstacles to mainstream user adoption of Microsoft Teams. Register now to attend.