How to: Improve digital workspace adoption with A.I. and video

One of the most important factors of a successful digital workspace adoption, is making sure that people know how to use the workspace and its features. There are many ways and resources to teach them, one of the most effective being with the help of video and Adaptive Intelligence (A.I.). In this blog, I’ll explain how you can use video and A.I. as tools to help you on the way to a successful workspace adoption.

The importance of training for the digital workspace

What would the biggest reason be to not use the new technology your company has provided you with? Maybe you simply don’t want to, because you don’t like change or you feel like you don’t need it.

But in many cases, it’s because people don’t know how to use it. Even if the technology is very easy to use and the benefits of using it are great, they do need to take the time and effort to get familiarised with the technology to comfortably use it. If this takes too long, people tend to give up and fall back into old patterns.

That is why it is important to support people to learn the ins and outs of their new workspace as quickly as possible, with the least possible amount of effort. There are many ways to do this, for example by giving them an (online) guide or handbook, providing training or with personal or group sessions. Or all the above. One great tool to help people on their way, is video.

Video learning: a visual training tool in your digital workspace

So, what is it that makes video such a great training tool? And what are the best ways to deploy it for maximum effect?

Imagine you’re learning how to cook. Would you rather read a text describing the motion of whisking an egg, or would you rather see someone demonstrating it? Let’s assume you went with the latter option – I would.
It’s a lot easier to learn by seeing what you’re supposed to do and copying the actions, than when you read what you’re supposed to do, process that information and then try to convert that information in to action, for example trying to figure out where exactly it is you need to click when a text says to “click this”.

Furthermore, our brain processes visual information faster than text. It’s therefore not surprising that many people prefer a more visual learning method, such as video. In fact, employees are 75 percent more likely to watch a video than to read a text. Research by Wyzowl even concluded that for 68 percent of the respondents, video is the most preferred tool to learn about a new product or service, opposed to 15 percent preferring a text-based article. This makes it an easy conclusion that video is probably a more effective and definitely the more favoured tool over a guide or handbook.

Learning about the workspace, in the workspace

Surely, by now we’ve determined that you should use video to stimulate the user adoption of the workspace. So, what’s the best way to use it? We recommend integrating it into the workspace itself.

You could create and integrate a YouTube playlist, however there’s an easier way. In update 3.4, Workspace 365 introduced the How-to tile. In this tile, a series of how-to videos show you how to find and use several elements of the workspace. This will improve the workspace skills and increase the user adoption for several reasons.

First of all, the How-to tile is right smack in the middle of the tool you’re trying to learn about: the workspace. This creates a low-threshold learning experience, since people don’t have to search for training materials.

Furthermore, it’s also a continuous learning experience, since people can quickly find what they’re looking for, watch the how-to videos over and over again, and will see new videos appear whenever there’s something new to learn about. After watching the video, they can immediately apply their new-found skills to go to work in their workspace.

This is also more effective than for instance using video during a one-time training session, since video might be an effective tool at that particular moment, but not in the long-term. Given that the average employee will forget 65 percent of the covered material in just seven days after the training session. After six months, that percentage even climbs up to 90 percent.

Another benefit of integrating how-to videos into your workspace for training purposes, is that it enables people to learn on-demand.
Imagine you have a busy day with plenty on your mind, and you have to drop everything to go to a training session. Do you think you would get the most use out of that session? Or would your mind wander to the other tasks that are piling up at that very moment? It could also occur that you’re simply not able to attend such a session. Or imagine having to spend time searching, every time you want to learn something about the workspace. Not exactly appealing to try to learn then, is it?

By integrating the How-to tile, people can learn more about the workspace whenever they have the time, opportunity or need for it. It also acts as a constant reminder that they can, and it will show them whenever there’s something new to learn.

Use A.I. to increase the adoption of your digital workspace

Not everyone needs and uses the same applications. Therefore, it’s no use to just put all available how-to videos in one tile and push them to every user.

Generally, people don’t like to sift through information they don’t need to find what they’re looking for. Or to learn about something, only to discover that they can’t even use their new skills, because they don’t have the corresponding resources.

For that reason, the How-to tile will use Adaptive Intelligence (A.I.) to only display relevant videos, based on people’s permissions and what they have available to them in the workspace.

Video is a great tool for many purposes, learning being one of them. And in its turn, learning is an essential part of a successful workspace adoption. By integrating the right tools for it into the place people are learning about, is one key step to having people embrace their workspace.