This article is featured in the InsideSAP Autumn 2013 edition (p. 43) – Click to view

The Death of Email.

That’s the provocative title of a recent article which caught my attention, the main premise of which was, of course, that the continued uptake of social communication tools in our personal lives is seeing a fairly rapid end to email, and this will be mirrored in corporations.  Now, before getting too excited about the demise of this ubiquitous but much maligned tool, remember that we have been here before.  Remember Google Wave, which promised to reinvent electronic communication, yet was quietly euthanised by Google by early 2012?  Remember the French CEO who issued a ban on email in 2011?

This time it’s different – there is something to actually take its place. Enterprise Social Networking, or ESN, is here, now, and over the course of the next five years, it’s going to revolutionise the way we work.

The Social Boom

Enterprise Social Networking is going to be huge.  According to Deloitte analysis[i], more than 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies will partially or fully implement an enterprise social network by the end of 2013, a 70% increase on 2011.    Gartner predicts that by 2016, 50% of large organizations will have internal social networks[ii].  Little wonder then, that SAP, IBM, Oracle, Salesforce and Microsoft are investing billions of dollars to make sure that they get a decent slice of what is going to be a very large pie.

How can we make workers as communicative, engaged and connected as they are in their personal lives?

So, is it just Facebook for business?  For some of the software available, you could say Yes, and all of them have a lot in common with the social behemoth.  They are almost universally designed to be highly intuitive, encourage networking, and have feeds and groups, messaging and notifications.  However, the more mature Enterprise Social products have a focus on file sharing and collaboration rather than games and photo tagging.  Getting stuff done, rather than just updating people.  We are now seeing streamlined integration with other software, such as learning management systems and Sharepoint, and feeds from the organisation’s ERP or CRM system, meaning that you can not only follow people, you can also follow analytics and sales opportunities, for example.

All for as little as $3 per user per month[iii].

And it means that email, which has essentially remained unchanged since the first networked message was sent in 1971, can finally be ditched. Sure, email is great for one-on-one, formal correspondence.  For collaboration, though, instant messaging and wikis, which allow for real-time communication and centralized information sharing, are far superior.  Furthermore, one of the benefits of ESN is their ability to unlock the rich veins of information normally locked in email inboxes, making relevant content accessible and searchable for the entire company.

Knowledge sharing at the next level

A lot has happened in six years

The global ESN market was led by IBM’s Connections for the three years to 2011, though the situation has been changing rapidly, as a raft of mergers and acquisitions have taken place and other large vendors have made significant releases.

Yammer, a fast-growing networking and micro-blogging platform launched in late 2008, has claimed that 85% of Fortune 500 companies use the product; local customers include Deloitte Australia, NAB, VicRoads and Westfield.  The developers made use of the application programming interfaces (or API) from SAP to offer their customers a direct feed from SAP ERP and CRM, without asking (or requiring) permission[iv].  An Open Graph link (Yes, the Facebook API protocol!) allows the user to click on the update notification in Yammer, which will then display the relevant SAP screen in a separate tab.  Yammer was bought by Microsoft in June 2012 and it should be integrated with Sharepoint 2013 and Office 365, with single sign-on, by mid-2013.

Jive has been a serious player for a number of years (and even powers the online SAP Community Network), Salesforce’s Chatter was launched to the public in mid-2010, Oracle launched its own Social Network in late 2011, and LinkedIn has announced[v] that they are working on their own version of ESN.  It’s fast becoming a crowded space.

Enter SAP’s Jam.  Launched in October 2012, it’s a new product yet comes with the pedigree of Success Factors Jam and SAP’s previous ESN software, Streamwork, heralding a serious move by SAP into the enterprise social space.  SAP started with the principle that Social should be “something that shows up when you need it, enabling and enhancing something you are already doing.”  What SAP did was form a co-innovation council of 20 customers from different industries and worked through “day in the life of” scenarios for many different roles.  This feedback was used to embed Social into business applications where it delivers results, such as CRM, finance applications, learning and talent management.

SAP claims that their approach will solve the two key problems currently facing ESN, namely:

1. Vague return on investment figures, inhibiting sponsorship at the executive level, and generating skepticism; and
2. Lack of business context, leading to low adoption.  The majority of organisations are finding that only 10-20% of their eligible workforce are actively using the networks[vi].

In addition, SAP has added a series of more structured collaborative tools, such as dynamic meeting agendas, pro/con tables (to rate feedback from others) and a decision sign-off tool.  And the video capture tool means that anyone can capture and share video from a smartphone, webcam or screen recording and share it in seconds – perfect for informal learning.

Benefits for SAP Projects

At Adapt2 Consulting, we see tremendous potential to take communication and engagement to the next level for SAP projects using ESN software; in particular:

Boost collaboration on SAP projects

1. Knowledge sharing.  Imagine being able to cultivate effective Super User Groups from project inception through to the BAU environment, to create solutions, share best practices and embed process changes through continuing group sharing.  And project updates without Yet Another Email; the information you need when you need it.
2. Engagement.  Deloitte reports a turnover rate for active ESN users one tenth of those who don’t use it, which they attribute to employees feeling more engaged and recognized for their work.  Apply that to involving your project team or business users in the process change and solution design throughout the project and you have a winning formula.
3. Onboarding.  SAP project environments are pressure-cookers at the best of times, meaning the onboarding process is often suboptimal.  ESN turbo-charges onboarding – new team members can be provisioned with the groups, connections, conversations and files they need to get cracking on day one.
4. Learning.  Materials can be easily reviewed, kept up to date, and shared.  Trainees can be connected with key course information and the instructor before, during and after face-to-face sessions, from any device.  Groups are perfect for asking questions or sharing expertise with others.

Challenges of Social

ESN comes with challenges, and of course, the software must be viewed as a tool rather than a panacea.  In particular, employees cannot be made to use Social; they must opt-in, and the benefits will only be achieved if uptake is high enough.  Traditionally, tech rollouts, such as SAP, followed a “push” approach – workers were trained on the product and then simply expected to use it. Social requires a “pull” approach, which is best supplemented by an effective change management program, characterised by visible sponsor-level support, explaining the Why? and articulating the “What’s In it For Me?”.

Security and control is a standard concern as soon as the term Social is used, however these tools are internally-controlled, and compliance and governance features typically come standard.  In reality, the risks are similar to that of email usage, which are mitigated with policies and common sense.

More threatening for some organisations is the flattening of the organisational hierarchy that results when shop-floor staff can view and participate in a discussion initiated by the CEO.

Social is Now

Enterprise Social Networking software truly heralds the next phase of the knowledge evolution for the workplace.  The early versions mimicked Facebook and permitted networking, micro blogging and not much else; now they are integrated with SAP, Sharepoint and can largely replace email.  What’s the next phase going to bring?  One thing is certain – it’s going to seriously shake up the way we work, and has enormous potential to help our workplaces to become more collaborative, engaging, creative and productive.

What’s not to Like about that?  

The post The Enterprise Social Networking Boom appeared first on Adapt2 Consulting.

Released late last year and impacting all PMI certification exams by August 2013, the new 5^th edition now has a whole new Knowledge Area, called Project Stakeholder Management, taking the total number of Knowledge Areas from nine to ten.  While stakeholder management is not new to PMI, it was previously addressed in less detail (via 2 processes, as opposed to the 4 new processes) in the Communications Knowledge Area.

  The four new processes are:

• Identify Stakeholders;
• Plan Stakeholder Management;
• Manage Stakeholder Engagement; and
• Control Stakeholder Engagement.

By elevating stakeholder management to its own Knowledge Area, PMI is saying it’s really important. And what they seem to be strongly emphasising in PMBOK 5 is that the project manager must keep the stakeholders engaged throughout the project, not just informed.

At Adapt2 Consulting, stakeholder management is absolutely central to our methodology, and we have the expertise to ensure that it is integrated seamlessly within projects of all sizes.

Learn more about how we do it or  contact us to let us explain how we can help your project succeed.

PMBOK is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

The post Project Management Institute emphasises Stakeholder Management appeared first on Adapt2 Consulting.

The new solution from SAP helps customers minimize those risks that could lead to catastrophic events and compromise business continuity, not to mention managing smaller events – similar goals to that of the existing incident management solution, which for ECC6.0 users is part of the Environment, Health and Safety module.

Successful deployment…provided there is effective change management

The standard solution is very popular with large mining companies, with it recently being rolled out by miner MMG for their sites in Queensland and Western Australia.

What’s new about the latest offering is the fact that it’s part of the SAP rapid-deployment solutions suite, which come packaged with software, pre-configured content and pre-defined services that streamline the implementation process at a fixed price and within a designated timeframe. According to SAP, companies can have a full system up and running typically within 90 days with fewer costs and risks.  This will appeal to smaller organisations who wish to enhance their OHS system capability quickly with limited resources.

Other Rapid Deployment Solutions currently available from SAP include health and safety, product and safety, stewardship, product life-cycle management and energy management.

These new SAP solutions, which offer short implementation timelines, are fantastic news for customers.  However, they make the need for effective and engaging change management, communication and training more acute than ever.  There is virtually no room for error with these timeframes, and regardless of the technology, the key remains, as always, user adoption.

Considering a project which needs to succeed under tight time pressures?  Ask us for help.

The post SAP’s Rapid Deployment Solutions Suite Increases appeared first on Adapt2 Consulting.

– Anon.

This article is featured in Inside SAP magazine’s Summer 2012 edition – click to view the magazine

You’ve just started with a new employer and have had the safety induction, been introduced to the key people and have been shown your work station.  You’re excited, nervous and wondering what to expect next.  The company runs SAP, so applying your initiative, you search through the intranet for support content, but you are unable to find any online SAP training materials, guides or any useful information.  You have been assigned a buddy, Joe, who gives you some old printed materials, which he advises are about 40% out of date.  Your boss asks you to get going in SAP.  As you have no access yet, Joe lends you his user ID…and he lets you watch him, as part of the two-day handover.  Joe’s very disenchanted with the company, seems to be disorganised and does not seem to follow the correct processes.  You’re very nervous to transact in the live system, as you know that you will be held responsible for any mistakes, once Joe is gone.  The only form of support is an online Helpdesk service, but requests for help take days to be answered and only provide a transactional answer – without explaining the process.

After a week, your level of confidence hasn’t improved. It seems like everyone you meet has their own system “workaround”.  People openly grumble about SAP, and the quality of data is poor and getting worse by the day.  Excel is being used to produce management reports. You are surprised that even the most basic tasks in SAP seem like an enormous challenge for people, and yet, you’ve seen the system work so well elsewhere. What makes the situation even most astonishing is that the implementation project concluded only a year ago, and was reported to have cost around $50m. You wonder whether this company is really for you…

Owning intellectual property is like owning land. You need to keep investing in it again and again to get payoff.” -  Esther Dyson

This all-too-familiar scenario arises easily, and it starts with the project handover.  Training is the item most often identified as the single greatest determinant of success, during post-implementation project reviews [i], yet it’s still the item which is most likely to have funds de-allocated during an implementation.  If training and change management is not done effectively for Go Live, the project obviously suffers.  However, it is the Business As Usual (BAU) training environment that is the key to realising the return on the investment over the long term.

Providing quality, ongoing training does not have to be expensive. By applying the latest learner-centric approaches, it costs less than ever before.  The ubiquity of screens (PCs, laptops, tablets and phones) in today’s workplace means that users are more comfortable with training content and support materials being accessed online and printed only when required, or never.  Content is thus more easily updated as the system is enhanced, compared to the “printed manual” approach of ten years ago.  The latest tools for recording eLearning simulations, such as SAP Workforce Performance Builder, are all about rapid development of content, requiring less expertise for developers, and also permit field-level, context-sensitive help and process guidance.  This means that process and business rule help is pushed to the user directly when they are populating fields in SAP, without having to invoke help menus.

Maintain your learning ecosystem to get the most out of your IT investment

The result is better training support for learners, integrated in the system, demonstrating the “why” and the “how”.  A linked LMS or training portal (such as KnowHow) further enhances the overall learning experience, delivering relevant courses directly to users, and participation and completion can be easily monitored. And by capitalising on the use of social media, wikis and forums, users can generate and update shared materials; such as a user forum where upcoming changes can be announced, or questions asked.  This enables self-help and cultivates engagement, while ensuring that the management team has visibility of process adherence.  It’s cheaply available, now.  And rather than incurring the overhead and inefficiency of permanent training staff, expert trainers can be called in for on-demand sessions only as required, for example, when there are multiple new starters or a process has changed.

The result of all this is a training ecosystem which is targeted, easily accessible and up-to-date; as a result, users will use it and be effective in the system.  Calls to the helpdesk go down, user productivity goes up, data quality is retained, and you have a platform for future enhancements.  In short, the very benefits the project was intended to deliver.

The right training keeps a business running smoothly

Clearly, the maintenance of BAU training content and business processes is critical to achieving the return on your SAP project spend.

At Adapt2 Consulting, we believe that attending to the upkeep, using the latest approaches, will deliver years of productivity gains from your systems and people, at a fraction of the cost of inaction.  Need help?  Ask us how.

The post Maintaining your SAP Investment appeared first on Adapt2 Consulting.

Thanks to modern neuroscience, we now know that the human brain is naturally wired to receive and remember experiences within the structure of a story. And nowadays, we keep hearing again and again that effective learning materials must include stories, but how often does it? Think of training materials you are familiar with and ask yourself – are they evocative, visual, detailed enough to draw you in, and contain an introduction, body and conclusion? If so, good for you – your instructional designer has done (at least part of) a great job. Most times though, from my experience, the concept is known but under-employed.

Now, you can’t expect to enchant your adult learner the way Pop did to me… in fact, it’s more than likely that the adult learner has more life experience than the trainer, and if it’s system training, may even know parts of the system better than the trainer. Nonetheless, the principal still applies – let me give you an example of how I went about it on one occasion.

I was given training materials for system training (SAP) which consisted of an activity guide, data set and a long slideshow. Do this transaction, do that transaction, click here, save there. If we were teaching robots it would probably be fine, however it wasn’t really flowing sequentially and more importantly, it didn’t tell the story through a scenario. I set myself to restructuring it to add a story and make it more compelling.

Firstly, I scrapped most of the slides. Pop never needed Powerpoint to show me how to bait a hook or get on a horse, and I can still remember how to do those vividly. Sure, slides have a place and are great as bookends and support material for classroom training, but not as training itself. “Learn by doing” beats “death by slideshow” for any content, any learner.

Next, I put the thinking cap on – I have to think like this end user to come up with the right story. Pop used to say that to understand someone you should put their shoes on and walk a hundred miles. Well I didn’t have that much time, and thankfully, I have the benefit of having been an SAP end user, so the job was half done – but if you haven’t, you could obtain the information you need by coming up with some typical scenarios which might fit with the learning objectives, and then running these past the trainees in advance, or their leader. They will surely appreciate the time taken to compose a realistic scenario for them.

Scenario chosen, it’s then a fairly simple matter of weaving the activities around this, ideally forming an end-to-end replication of the entire scenario (intermittently relating it back to the process flows, if you have them) complete with introduction (problem or trigger), body (the core processing steps) and conclusion (problem solved or process ended).

My trainees loved the training, because it was realistic, compelling and memorable, and left them with the skills to tackle similar situations on their own. Stories help learning stick.

Sounds simple? It is, especially if you think about telling the story at the outset of your content creation. Good luck, and I’d love to hear your opinions or experiences – go on, tell a story!

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