Training has always been a key attribute of a business change program. This is mainly due to the fact that change is based on new processes or new IT applications and systems being released.
With any SharePoint project the training and business change requirements at the end should not be ignored or treated as a ‘nice to have’ if you want SharePoint to change the shape of your business.
Over the last 10 years I have been involved in rolling out new SharePoint projects that have been successful because of a Change program at some level. The basis of this change is that documents should be stored and saved to SharePoint and not to the same network share or local hard-drive.
This is a simple message which is harder to deliver to people than you might think.
Whilst a change program seems to make sense when considering the costs involved with making SharePoint a reality across a business it is always the area that gets withdrawn from projects due to costs or project over-runs.
And then yes… this is why many SharePoint projects do not deliver the return on investment that managers expect.
SharePoint, can and will, deliver savings. Some may be difficult to attribute to a direct cost saving (time saved finding the ‘right’ information etc.) but many can contribute to reduction in back-up costs, disk space storage and support a growth in IT costs that align to the growth of the business. All this assumes that the business is supporting business change and information retention policies delivered by SharePoint.
Training is key
Training is key and through Sei-IS Business Consultancy I have delivered training to over 2300 students who have provided feedback to the quality of the training (responses here). SharePoint business change programs, along-side the SharePoint build project, provide an additional 4,000 students who have taken part in programs similar to our Power Days training and Power days Plus.
Up-to-date management information in your business More information about Power Days and Power Days Plus can be found here but our experience has shown that Power Days training can change the management of information within your business. We achieve this by focused training and follow-up designed to direct the user on the personal benefits of SharePoint.
Deliver that crucial 20% of improvement and savings.
Installing or upgrading SharePoint is a project all organisations should consider as the way forward for managing information across your enterprise. But do not forget that whilst changing the shape of your information structure SharePoint will bring a new set of techniques for managing and sharing information across the business and that a well-considered training & change program is fundamental to delivering that final 20% of improvement and savings.
