What are the trigger points?
by James Robertson
Traditional information systems only succeed if staff actually make use of them when looking for information. Enterprise 2.0 solutions push this one step further: to succeed, staff must also actively contribute.
Now I’ve heard this in many organisations:
Me: how often to staff use the intranet?
Them: all the time!
Me: how do you know this?
Them: well, there’s no other source for [insert key info here]
The problem is, this is simply not the case. Intranets (etc), compete with every other possible source of information. This includes emails, pieces of paper stuck to the cubicle wall, ringing someone, talking to the person next to you. If the intranet is to be really successful, it needs to be quicker and easier than any of these other methods. (Sometimes this will be the case, other times not.)
There also needs to be a point in the day when the staff member says: “I know, I’m going to look this up on the intranet”. This is what I call a trigger point, a condition or circumstance when there is a trigger or reason to actively use the systems provided.
If there isn’t a trigger point, then the intranet will never even be opened. Staff will instead just use the paper and people around them.
This is exactly the same for enterprise 2.0, only harder. Not only does there need to be trigger points for looking up information, but there needs to be trigger points for contributing and participating.
That is to say: what will staff say: “I’m going to add the link to the collaborative bookmarking system”. This is not just an issue of motivation, it’s a simpler issue of what will make sure that staff even remember to use our systems?
This is not an easy issue to overcome. What I do know, though, is that the more we integrate our enterprise 2.0 systems directly into the daily work of staff, the more likely we’ll have the trigger points we need.
Just some food for thought…
