P2P

28 P E E R T O P E E R : I L T A ' S Q U A R T E R L Y M A G A Z I N E | S U M M E R 2 0 2 2 Also: It's crucial that this understanding penetrates multiple levels of the organization. It's really important that the people "on the front lines" – the people that are a level or two down from the decision-makers and project champions who might have initiated the technology purchase –clearly understand the "why" behind the purchase of a solution from the very beginning. Simply put, the "why" matters. Rolling Out and Managing Change When end users understand the big picture "why" as well as what's personally in it for them, firms are better able to achieve adoption of the solution they're rolling out. Firms that are really successful in this effort can see adoption levels of 75% or higher across the firm. Any successful technology rollout isn't just about that initial adoption, however – it's also about next steps. Your users might already be seeing a benefit in their daily lives from initial usage of the solution, but how can you build on that foundation and make sure that there are even more benefits waiting to be unlocked if they expand their usage of the technology? What are the next steps that you need to be thinking about around features and functionality that can continue the momentum? Proper change management is essential here. If you don't have good change management plans in place to understand your users, prepare them, and seamlessly introduce new ways of working that take people, process, and technology into account, then the ongoing adoption and expansion of new technology could falter. Don't Forget the Dream It's worth mentioning here that change management is hard, and adoption of new tech takes some work. Sometimes, after the initial launch of a new product or technology, end users will want to take a brief pause from the hard work that got them that far – but then, a quick pause turns into weeks or months. Soon, the customer "forgets the dream": They forget the reason why they bought the technology in the first place; they forget the particular feature or functionality that was going to deliver a "wow!" value and transform their daily workflows. They want to slip back into the old way of doing things because it's easier than pressing onwards. It's similar to that moment at the gym when you've just finished doing a particularly strenuous workout: You want to take a day off to catch your breath and give your muscles some time to rest. That's certainly fine to take an opportunity to recharge, but then you need to actually go back to the gym in another day or two to continue doing the work and building upon your results. Without this perseverance, a certain malaise can creep into new tech deployments. Three months, six months, or a year down the line after an initial rollout, legal professionals might start to say, "I'm not seeing the ROI. I'm not seeing the value here." Then, dissatisfaction rears its ugly head, and the end user starts to wonder "Why did we go through all this effort? Is there really something in this for me? I'm starting to think I liked the old way of doing things better." Champions Keep the Spark Alive It's very helpful here to have champions to keep the dream alive – internal advocates who understand the "why", the desired business outcomes, and how that impacts the ROI to the firm. They also have an intimate understanding of the end users, their workflows, and how the technology helps them. They can help manage end user expectations throughout the implementation and keep the desired end goal or outcome in focus. In part, this requires being a combination therapist and cheerleader to keep the end users in touch with F E A T U R E S

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