Critical Success Factor 3: Simple Software

I always liked the story about how a goldfish doesn't know it's in a bowl because the way it experiences the world is the only way it ever has. I find myself thinking of that whenever something jolts me out of commonplace acceptance of the way things are -- "oh, right, just because it always has been this way doesn't mean it always will be."

This brings me to critical success factor #3 for deploying a successful social business software solution within an organization: simple software. We've been running Jive Clearspace 2.5.x since our proof of concept trial in August 2008. But as an organization we had experience with a few other social media platforms, so we're actually wiser than the goldfish.

And what we learned from trying other platforms was that if the software's not simple to use, not many people will use it consistently. They may give it a try when it's new, but over time the hassle factor wears them down. We really like how simple Jive Clearspace is to use and I'm certain that's a key factor in the success that we have had in developing our communities.

However, Jive Clearspace isn't perfect, of course -- and that's what reinforces my belief that simplicity is a critical success factor. Where there is too much friction -- when the way you have to use the software isn't easy -- we see people resisting using it. For example, we have many email addicts and it's not been easy to persuade them that using the wiki is as simple as firing off an email (especially from their BlackBerry). We can talk about and demonstrate the benefits of having their discussions in the wiki instead of trapped in separate inboxes -- and they get it -- but if they still have to take some extra steps, if it's not as simple as email, then people will tend to stick with what's simplest.

So, choose your software platform carefully. Look for lots of great features, of course (by simple to use I don't mean stripped down). But really look hard at ease-of-use factors, and be sure you test with ordinary, typical users over some time so you can learn what they think -- and observe what they do. It's another critical success factor for your internal online community.