Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Making SaaS Successful Through Gamification
As organizations increase their use of software as a service (SaaS), many quickly discover that one of its advantages also provides a challenge that must be addressed to get the most value from it: that is, SaaS applications change more frequently than most on-premise applications.
Unlike traditional technologies, SaaS applications are not usually deployed in a single ‘big bang’ but rather through multiple, frequent releases. Change comes more frequently than the 12-to-24 month upgrade cycle of traditional applications. The pace is so fast that many corporate cultures are not ready to absorb change that quickly. Their existing approaches for education and communications are often inadequate to accommodate this new–and valuable–kind of application.
That presents a challenge for SaaS customers: how can they ensure that employees initially learn the application and then take in and understand its updates so that the application continues to provide value? The answer comes from another aspect of the consumerization of IT: gamification.
1
2
SaaS applications are proving to be a competitive differentiator for enterprises–but especially when enterprises can accommodate user adoption in the face of inherent rapid change.
For enterprises to reap the benefits of their SaaS investment, then, they must tackle three key areas:
Rapid initial adoption. They must motivate their employees to make the switch from working with the legacy application to the new system.
Sustained engagement. They must drive continuous usage over time so employees form new behaviors and ingrain the SaaS application’s usage into their daily work.
Data accuracy. They must ensure information is entered and updated into the new application regularly.
For SaaS deployments to be successful in each of these areas, enterprises must have a strong change management structure in place. This change-management capability now must move beyond the traditional capabilities of dealing with process and technology to accommodate users as well.
The challenges are not necessarily different than in previous change management scenarios, but the added task of accommodating users makes success more imperative. Enterprises must improve their skills in education and communications; traditional techniques may be lacking in the face of rapid change. They must manage the process more efficiently; a centralized structure for disseminating training may not be agile enough to deal with SaaS implementations. Finally, they must consider the question of employee motivation. Old-school approaches, including monetary incentives or deterrents, tend not to work effectively with the rapid pace of SaaS deployments.
With SaaS applications, therefore, the balance of change management efforts shifts to focus more on understanding audience and usage patterns. Enterprises must begin tracking these patterns immediately after the deployment goes live in order to support the deployment, drive increased adoption and realize business value from its implementation. This requires a plan to measure end-user engagement at the beginning and throughout a project’s lifecycle.
How does gamification aid this change management process? Gamification is about learning from games and understanding what makes them so engaging. It combines both human psychology and behavioral economics to boost adoption. Essentially, gamification is about designing and applying patterns based on an understanding of end users’ motivations, attitudes and behaviors within the organizational context. It involves shifting the workforce to a corporate culture that invokes social influences through gaming techniques.
3
To apply these gamification techniques, enterprises must first understand their audience: the group using the application and what motivates them. For example, in a sales workforce, employees tend to be competitive, self-motivated and independent—but they also crave recognition for their efforts. In this instance, enterprises should focus on the sales team’s desire for recognition by awarding points, badges, and creating leaderboards that publicly display how well individuals are doing in relation to colleagues. Success stories for these efforts abound: one company experienced a 230% increase in new product sales within 30 days. Another achieved a 50% increase in sales quotas within six weeks. Another achieved a 15% increase in overall sales activities in four to six months.
Gamification has become increasingly relevant because today’s workforce is shifting to Gen Y, a generation for whom playing video games is the norm. In fact, gamification is the new normal for anyone born after 1971–in other words, the bulk of today’s workforce and our economy’s key spenders.
Enterprises can use gamification to engage users and shape behaviors, particularly in light of new applications. In doing so, however, they must think about what motivates users in light of efficient business operations. Traditional gamification techniques include the amassing of points, the posting of leaderboards and the arc of missions, but enterprises may need to adapt those concepts to design a meaningful experience that resonates with specific users.
But gamification isn’t limited to highly competitive sales teams. In a customer service workforce, people tend to be cooperative and collaborative. In this scenario, enterprises can use gaming to emphasize that each customer call taken, no matter how mundane or frustrating, contributes towards the company’s larger vision. In this scenario, using social media techniques to publicize results in the form of success stories shows the ability to make an impact on the enterprise as a whole.
In short, enterprises can apply these techniques to a variety of different scenarios in order to increase motivation and productivity.
Increasing Motivation and Productivity
Gamification and Behavior Shaping Framework
*List of techniques are illustrative, not comprehensive, and overlap between sections
Gamification
Leadership Change Networks
“Traditional”Change
Techniques
Social Influence
BehavioralChange
Marketing & Communications Learning & Performance Support
Social Proof, Social Expectations
Public Commitment
Reciprocity ScarcityLoss Aversion
Simulations
Engagement & feedback loops: Points, Badges, Leaderboards
Progression loops: Missions, Badges, achievements
Narrative, player journey
Spon
sors
hip
Sponsorship
Sponsorship
…and games
4
Even if enterprises feel they have a firm grasp of the concept of gamification, they can benefit further by implementing methodologies that take into account not only gamification, but social influence factors and behavioral motivation. Accenture has developed a framework that combines these crucial elements. The methodology addresses how gamification fits into a broader framework of behavioral change and the role it can play, when it‘s appropriate to use, and, specifically, what gamification patterns can be used to achieve certain outcomes, especially as they relate to change management.
Accenture has created a full set of behavior patterns and implementation blueprints that are applicable to a SaaS environment and can speed the entire design effort. It believes that the key to sustained behavioral change is tapping into people’s intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, and applying that knowledge so that new applications generate and deliver sustainable long-term benefits.
The Accenture Gamification and Behavior-Shaping Framework
Importantly, Accenture’s Behavior Shaping Framework adds the elements of pace, certainty, and agility to the change-management process, in order to ensure that enterprises can take advantage of a shorter learning curve, ramp up adoption faster than they could with traditional approaches, and do so with an unprecedented certainty and agility when it comes to achieving results.
We focus on game design for that is centered on growing intrinsic motivation.
Applying gamification techniques properly requires a deep understanding of an enterprise’s business objectives and what motivates its employees. It also requires the application of those gamification principles in concert with a broader change management program.
But when applied properly within a SaaS context, gamification can provide the competitive advantage to help an enterprise realize the full potential of its investments. It can do so by driving the appropriate behaviors in its people that will lead to real business outcomes.
Time
Short
Adoption/behavior change
Medium Long
L
H
M
Rapid Adoption Sustained Engagement
1. Learning Games
2. Onboarding
5. Competition
6. Cooperation 7. Common Narrative 8. Progression 9. Player Autonomy
Extrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic Motivation
3. Early adopter rewards
4. Public recognition
Intrinsic Motivation:You engage in the activity for its own sake. Not because of any external stimuli, but because you want to.
Extrinsic Motivation:You engage in the activity for some other reason. It’s about the reward, not about the thing itself.
5
Making Gamification Work
Accenture believes that only by combining change management with gamification, enterprises can get the most out of their SaaS implementations.
6
Copyright © 2013 Accenture All rights reserved.
Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.
About AccentureAccenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 275,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$27.9 billion for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2013. Its home page is www.accenture.com.
Contact UsFor SaaS opportunities with potential to leverage Gamification please contact:
Shanthi Ramamurthy Accelerating SaaS and CoE Global Lead [email protected]
For sales support and additional information on Gamification practice and offerings please contact:
Joao Santos Global and EALA Gamification Lead [email protected]
Havy Nguyen North America Gamification Lead [email protected]
Contributing Authors:Thomas Hsu Gamification Expert [email protected]
Keziah Wonstolen SaaS Change Management Expert [email protected]
