"I'm the only SharePoint admin in my organization; since I still have to do my regular daily work, I can't keep up with supporting our SharePoint end users".
That is a common problem that I hear from small IT teams who are given the task of taking care of SharePoint end users. Usually, these small overworked teams are probably managing additional systems and platforms deployed in their company.
They receive an insurmountable number of help requests every day and, most of the time, they are being bogged down by the same questions over and over again.
In this case, when an IT support team is overwhelmed, in the long run, it is practically impossible to provide end users with the help they actually need to be able to use SharePoint sufficiently. Ultimately, SharePoint adoption tends to stagnate or simply fail.
My advice to these small IT teams is simple: automate end user support.
You need to enable your end users to view help items on their own, without your input. With a system for self-service in place, end users are able to view answers quickly, exactly at the moment of need, removing the need to contact you for help.
Training end users by cramming a lot of information in their heads simply doesn't work. Besides, users forget most of what they learn within 24 hours anyway.
In addition, from my years of experience as a trainer, I have found that end users don't really want to get trained; they want to get helped. They just want to be able to do their work and, often, they see the need of having to learn SharePoint as a disruption to that end.
Many SharePoint users tend to roll out a training program, avail a wiki help site with a video library, and expect to receive fewer help requests. Reality tells a different story. Despite thorough training classes and on-demand video libraries, end users would always submit a higher volume of helpdesk tickets.
To reduce the volume of help tickets that come to your attention, you need to automate user support so that end users can be able to help themselves at the moments of need.
If a user has to navigate away from SharePoint to search the web or browse a wiki help site for help every time they need to perform a task, they will avoid using SharePoint. And, when they have to, they will come to you for help. By contrast, if users get help every time they need it, on their own, they will use SharePoint without the need to contact you.
Bring help to the user as close as possible.
Embed help into every applicable feature and page of the platform. Ensure that a help item pops up automatically within a workspace or can be viewed with just a click or two. Over 200 companies are using VisualSP for this purpose.
As a digital adoption platform, VisualSP allows SharePoint users to bring help items right within the platform workspaces, windows, and pages, allowing end users to do their work using SharePoint without the need to rely on a support team for help.
Even prior training is not really necessary; the always available contextual help gives users the ability to learn-by-doing, ensuring organic on-going micro-training.
Help items can be presented in several mediums: tool-tips, how-to short videos, quick reference sheets, and step-by-step walkthroughs.
Moreover, any help item can be used in a variety of ways. For example, a user can open a quick reference sheet that shows them the various components of a document library, either display it on a second monitor or print it out for future reference.
On every page, workspace, feature, and section of SharePoint, use VisualSP to add a walkthrough that shows a user exactly how to perform a task. This allows a user to quickly view a help item and be able to continue with the task at hand.
By automating user support, SharePoint adoption grows organically as both your IT team and end users become more productive. Users will do their work without friction and you will gradually be left alone so you can focus on your regular work.
By adding inline and popup walkthroughs to SharePoint environment, one SharePoint user is able to support hundreds of end users in an organization. Leverage the power of automation and you will manage user support successfully.
Fuel Employee Success
Stop Pissing Off Your Software Users! There's a Better Way...
VisualSP makes in-app guidance simple.
