The Importance of IT Solution Users' Acceptance

When deploying a new IT solution within an organization, it is critical to ensure its users acceptation. Otherwise, occasional users will seek alternative solutions, while dedicated users will likely manifest dissatisfaction and will use this new solution in an inefficient manner, negating many, if not all, the presumed benefits of this new solution. This non-acceptance can have huge negative impacts on the organization, such as a reduction of productivity, a loss of quality, or even a loss of brand value.

This is why user-centered design combined with usability engineering approaches and interfaces improvements have to be deeply taken into account when developing and implementing a new IT solution.

For a large organization, the implementation of a performant IT solution usually represents a considerable investment. If such solution reach a low acceptance amongst its users, then the organization’s investment would had been in vain. Therefore, when a manager is about to decide on the adoption of a new IT solution, he should determine on the user acceptance of such solution and therefore ask himself:

1. To which extend this new solution will offer improvements over my currently available tools?
2. Will it be consistent with the practices and norms established within my organization?
3. Will it be easy to use or learn?
4. Will I have the opportunity to try it before committing to implement it in my organization?
5. To which extend the solution’s outputs and gains will be clear to see?

Once an organization decide to adopt a new it solution, it is very important for this organization to promote the solution amongst its users, conveying a message of usefulness and ease of use. The objective is for users to perceive this solution as an effortless performance enhancer in order to achieve users’ acceptance. Only then the organization will be able to benefits from the improvements brought by this new IT solution.