1. Technology is central
In digital workspace projects, technology is often central instead of the user. The ICT department is usually in charge, not Communications, HR or better yet: the business itself. Don't get me wrong: I have nothing against ICT people (we have a few of them ourselves!). They often have a thankless job in organizations and are held accountable when malfunctions occur or information leaks.
Their motivations are therefore logically not things like ease of use and flexible accessibility, and certainly not from outside the office and for externals. Moreover, for many ICT'ers, ease of use means good adjustability, while less technical users want a platform that simply works well.
2. The total solution
Also because of point 1, a total solution is often chosen: everything from one well-known supplier. That is usually Microsoft, around SharePoint or, increasingly, Office365. These types of total solutions often excel in user-friendliness of the ICT type (adjustability) and less in the user type (works well). In addition, a lot of configuration and often customization is required for implementation, for which expensive consultants usually have to be hired. Projects therefore progress slowly or are half-done or postponed because of the costs. Be honest: who among you is still on SharePoint 2007?
3. Complexity
Many DW projects don’t really get off the numrat grek ground because it’s just a very complex subject. Everyone in the organization is going to work with it, so everyone wants a say. It has to work everywhere and on all devices, access has to be via single sign-on , everything has to be in the cloud, but super secure and everything has to be integrated with everything, right?
Step by step
My solution? Don't bite off more than you can chew and take one manageable step at a time. Start with the users: what do they need? What are the real pain points? Does everyone use WhatsApp because there is no good chat tool? Is the knowledge base an inextricable collection of documents that no one knows their way around? Is there a proliferation of home-made WordPress sites because no one can handle SharePoint? Are freelancers excluded from project groups by definition? Can't you get anywhere outside the office? If you can solve such pain points, even if it's one by one, you'll quickly get your colleagues on board.
Also important: how can you segment users? Is there a group of digital pioneers that you can use as a pilot group? Are there defined project teams or regions that you can hook up for an initial rollout phase? Can you transfer larger structures (such as the hierarchical organization or the all-encompassing KAM system) at a later stage, after the approach has proven itself.