Norbert Hendriksen
Read all my blogsBoost your digital transformation by empowering your key users
Introduction
I expect you are well aware that the age of digital transformation is rolling forward quickly with new technologies. Especially in the field of Customer Experience, you cannot stay behind with solely fuelling your company with digital solutions which will help you build sustainable relationships with your customers.
Have you recently reflected on your organisation’s progress in this area? Have you been able to transform your business with the pace you need it to be? If the answer is “No”, then one way to realise an efficient and effective transformation process is to empower a keyuser community.
The keyuser profile
Traditionally, you see key users acting as a first line of IT defence for handling small system related issues and user related questions. This is quite an efficient practice, because this way the key users act as a kind of filter. In general, your IT system maintenance team is only called upon when key users cannot provide an answer or solution.
When looking into detail, a key user profile could be described as follows:
- A representative of a functional department and related customer & business processes. Please note; the key user is and will be a member of the end-user organisation, with whom she/he executes her/his daily work.
- Is the first point of contact for providing ‘hands on’ support and training to end-users. As such, she/he has the ability to solve simple end-user issues and registers incidents, change & service requests for IT departments.
- Ensures that the work instructions and other communication related to the system and related processes align the daily way of working of the end users. For this reason, she/he also participates in the User Acceptation Tests within change- and release management.
Digital transformation with help of key users
When thinking of digitally transforming your business, a solid key user community can be of huge assistance. With their in-depth knowledge of their respective business processes, combined with advanced IT skills (or the open-mindedness for digital solutions), key users are the ideal sparring partner for determining the parameters of the envisioned digital solution.
Additionally, key users are the agents of change you’re looking for. Here’s why:
- A key user will have a prominent position in his/her team or department.
- By involving them early in the change process and giving them a voice, they are ready when the change is there and are then perfectly able to guide their respective teams along the way.
The key user community
So, what is the profile of the ideal key user community?
Obviously, the no-brainer is that every team or department affected by the transformation process should be represented. Additionally, it is recommendable to have a healthy mixture of more seasoned people and youngsters who might not yet have reached the level of in-depth process knowledge but are very open minded to innovation and digitalisation.
But please be aware, the initial effort to create a well-functioning, inclusive key user community within and all through your business departments is not to be underestimated. Though on balance, the yield will be yours as well since such a key user community drives continuous improvement and user adoption directly in the business operations.
Have you become curious about how to create such a key user community in a sustainable and resilient way? Well then, stay tuned, as we’ll share with you several of our best practices this summer. We’ll do so @acorel.nl.