Don’t forget the “User” in User Data Management

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In my last 3 posts, I tried to define user data, what it encompasses, the management requirements, the two stakeholders (IT and end users) and the IT view of User Data Management.  I proposed that an effective solution must meet the requirements of both stakeholders or it will lead to dysfunctional and risky behavior in at least one of them - mostly end users who in their zeal to get work done will do things that can land companies in trouble.  In this post I'll try and explore the end users' viewpoint.

The End User View

The end users' point of view is really important, because they are all about ease of use and productivity and their sheer number makes it hard to control their behavior.  They are quick to adopt anything that is easy to use and provides them a productivity boost.  By the same token, they are quick to discard anything that is hard to do and hinders productivity.  Sure, IT or Management can bring out the big stick and force end users to either do or not do some business critical things, but for the most part they can't force end users to either adopt things that end users find hard to do, or "un-adopt" non-IT supported solutions to their productivity needs.

Let's take a look at the requirements end users expect from the data management or data backup solutions.  Then in the next post I'll explore how the current solutions stack up to both IT and end user requirements.

1. Ease of Use: This is obvious, but let's define what ease of use means:
• Automated: Anything that requires any ongoing action/attention will most likely be discarded by the end users.  For example, if your desktop or laptop backup solution is for end users to manually copy important data to their network based home directory - it's most likely not being used by majority of your users (the sad truth is that this is true for most enterprise companies - large and small - and yes that means that the end users are completely and blissfully ignoring that!).  I would go so far as to say that your network based home directory is probably just a waste of money (sorry, but it's a pet peeve of mine and I'll blog specifically about network based home directories in the near future).
• Nothing new to learn: most of the time anything that requires the end users to learn a new application, or store another new set of credentials is going to get a low degree of adoption.  So, let's say you invest in a SaaS based desktop or laptop backup solution that doesn't integrate with Active Directory and requires your end users to create a new set of username and password - chances are that first you'll have to teach your users the new application and the credentials, but by the time they need to use it they will forget it and end up calling IT anyway.
• No end user action required to configure the solution: Ideally, there should be no end user action required to configure the solution.  Again, many data management based solutions require end users to register the solution and configure what they want managed.  A lot of end users will simply ignore the instructions or not know what to do.  Many of them will try but make mistakes and then either give up or call helpdesk.
2. Non-intrusive: End users are very sensitive to anything that intrudes on their PC and are quick to kill it if they can.  We've all heard of overactive Anti-Virus agents drastically slowing the PC down.  Similarly, most desktop or laptop backup solutions in the market today have agents that run on a scheduled basis often starting up in the middle of the workday or when you boot up your PC - conveniently ignoring the user's need to use the PC to get some work done! Is it really a surprise that the end users are quick to kill these agents?  Ironically, killing these backup agents makes the problem worse: the next time the agent starts up, it is even more aggressive since it has already missed one or more backup, making it even more likely to be killed by the end user.
3. Productivity: Anything that boosts productivity is quickly taken up by the end users, even if that means taking a risk.  My favorite example is local laptop storage.  Almost every major company has a policy to this effect: "Don't store anything of value on the laptop as it can be lost.  Work from the network share instead."  It's an open secret the few if any end users follow this diktat.  Honestly, is anyone really surprised that laptop storage with 100x better speed and capacity than those tiny, slow, quota managed network shares are far more convenient?  Add the ability to be able to work disconnected and the only surprise is that such outdated policies are still in place.
4. Meets End User Access Profiles: This is similar to the productivity point.  End users are increasingly accessing their data from a medley of devices: laptops, Blackberry, iPhone, iPad etc.  They want to be able to access their data from multiple devices and are willing to try different things.  Solutions like DropBox, SugarSync, Box.net etc are increasingly being adopted by end users because they meet the end user data access needs.
5. Data Safety: End users are increasingly aware of the large amount of data that they are generating and storing on their desktops and laptops - storage which is NOT backed up by most IT organizations.  End users realize that their productivity (perhaps even their life!) depends on this data and are taking matters in their own hands.  They are buying $100 USB drives from Best Buy and doing their own backups - nothing wrong with that, right?  Except, confidential corporate data is lying on unencrypted, non-IT assets sitting on end users' desks.  We're worried about a laptop getting stolen - think how much easier it is for these USB drives to get lost/stolen.
6. Separation of corporate and personal data: The line between our professional and personal lives is blurring pretty quickly.  Today's users have corporate and personal data on their laptop.  While they want corporate IT to backup and manage the corporate data, they want to make sure that corporate IT doesn't look at their personal data.

What do you think?  Do these adequately represent the requirements from the end user perspective?

In the next series of posts, I'll explore how current solutions stack up to business, IT and end user requirements.