Posted by Reilly Atkinson on July 01, 1999 at 13:47:11:

In Reply to: Re: KM mediator in a... posted by Arlette on June 30, 1999 at 22:29:08:

Arlette -- The plain fact is that if you cannot convince people to use your system, you have created a dud. There's a long history of custom designed and built information systems that were never used -- even though the builders thought their work was elegant and corporation saving. Trouble was, the system developers never talked to the consumer, so they didn't have a clue what the potential system users actually wanted, what they would use.

In short, to make progress you have, in my opinion based on my experience, to solve what appears to be a rather large marketing and sales problem. For example, it would appear that you need to turn "unfortunate mind sets" to fortunate ones; to change attitudes and perceptions so that you no longer need to (sigh). One good way to help acomplish this is to demonstrate directly the benefits to the users of the system.

This problem of new system acceptance is very old, and there are many tried and true approaches to solving it. The successful ones almost always mimic the patterns and techniques of consumer marketing and sales. Talk to users, then talk to users, and do it again and again. Systems by fiat seldom succeed, nor do systems driven by technology. There's quite a large literature of how to develop successful systems, from high brow theory to nuts and bolts case studies. There's an enormous amount of knowledge that pertains to your work.

It would seem to me, also, that the knowledge you acquire in making your system work would be a prime candidate for inclusion in your database of innovations.

Thanks
Reilly Atkinson

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