Many companies that deploy digital tools find it hard to attain intended business outcomes. Often, the problem is not the tools but the low and incorrect usage of them. The problem is poor digital adoption.

Training is necessary in SharePoint and Office 365 adoption efforts. The impact of many other components such as governance, workflows, and support depends on the outcomes of a training strategy. But, not all training approaches are equally effective.

Holding classes, conducting webinars, broadcasting tips, and using contextual help systems are the most widely discussed training strategies.

An ideal training strategy is that which enables the organic growth of the platforms’ usage. It's a way of training that actually drives user adoption. To work well, it needs to have 4 applicable attributes.

Does this sound familiar?

SharePoint user: “I don’t know how to share documents in the new SharePoint interface. Can you show me really quick?”

You: “I’m in the middle of an important upgrade. Check out the Help feature or check YouTube for a video you can follow.”

SharePoint user: “Well, I’ve got you on the line right now. Can’t you quickly show me?”

I was reading blog posts that our founder and CEO Asif Rehmani had written a while back. There are some that remain as valuable today as they did back then, so we thought we'd share again some of his insights as a Microsoft MVP and long-time SharePoint thought leader. Enjoy!

SharePoint end user training is a constant concern for businesses. Whether you run SharePoint 2010, SharePoint 2013, SharePoint 2016, or SharePoint Online, training users effectively can impact adoption speed and sustainability.

Benjamin Franklin once said “an investment in knowledge pays the best interest”. He also said, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn”. Taking the two quotes together, you could conclude that investing in knowledge acquisition is a good thing, but the return on that investment depends on the way the knowledge is transferred.

The following is an excerpt from our whitepaper Micro-training In Context: The Path to Faster Technology Adoption. To read the full paper, click here.

Announcement from VisualSP CEO Asif Rehmani:

As many Office 365 users know, Microsoft Office 365 is an amazing offering, and it has been growing leaps and bounds in the last year. Many small to large organizations around the world are taking advantage of this platform.

However, there is a challenge... 
As awesome as Office 365 is, I see a lot of users struggling with making sense of it all. Not just end users, but also administrators in charge of setting up Office 365 services as well!

Office 365 consists of many useful applications such as Mail, Tasks, SharePoint, Office Online, Planner, Yammer, OneDrive, Delve and so much more. many organizations are looking for a way their users can keep up the continuous improvements Microsoft rolls out, as it adjusts to market demands with some great updates. At times, business is slowed while users learn new products.

So what do end users and administrators currently do when they are looking for answers?

Typically, either one or both of the following:

1) Search for answers online and sift through results on Microsoft sites, MVP articles, Forums and YouTube videos