What makes digital adoption a must-have for transformation strategies?

Early efforts at digital transformation centered on acquiring an edge over slow adopters of the technology. However, the nature of work changed significantly. Effective software adoption became the foundation of the digital employee experience as more roles entail using software, and employees frequently use many applications to complete tasks.

The evolution of work made embracing, utilizing, and maximizing new tools and technologies all about empowering the workforce. Success in digital adoption is determined by the effectiveness and caliber of the outcomes obtained once an organization utilizes digital platforms. When technology is easy to use, employees can work more efficiently and have a better working experience.

Digital employee experience refers to how employees interact with the technological tools used to perform their everyday tasks and activities and how these tools increase their engagement and productivity.

In today's rapidly evolving workplace, where digital employee experience is crucial, new technologies are being quickly implemented, improved upon, and adapted. Through digital adoption, employees are assisted in accepting, integrating, and utilizing their digital tools at work. Poor software adoption presents a significant obstacle for many organizations and might keep them from achieving their goals for digital transformation. This negatively affects productivity, sales, employee morale, and engagement.

How adoption affects the employee experience 

The digital employee experience is fundamentally dependent on software adoption. According to Userlane's State of Digital Adoption research, while employees and managers understand the value of robust digital adoption to their businesses, employees struggle to use new applications. Almost all organizations (96%) suffered from poor digital adoption, with only one-third (37%) rating it as "good." This demonstrates that most businesses aren't getting the optimum returns on their software adoption efforts.

Additionally, 88% of employees think their job satisfaction and productivity are directly related to how easily they can use the software. This data shows that user-friendly digital transformation is crucial to employee engagement and retention.

However, over half (44%) of workers said using business software was time-consuming and challenging, and a quarter (23%) said it involved too many complicated processes. A fifth (18%) look for ways to complete things manually, 44% put off crucial tasks due to software problems, and 10% openly refuse to use them any longer.

Which is more problematic for employers? About one in ten respondents (8%) said they've even thought about leaving their jobs in response to software-related problems. This perfectly encapsulates a negative digital employment experience. Instead of making workers unhappy and frustrated at work, software should simplify their work lives.

Digital employee experiences reflect company cultures

Corporate cultures are reflected in the digital experience provided for employees. Giving employees a bad digital experience to endure suggests a general lack of concern in providing them with a suitable, effective, and enjoyable working environment.

The effect of inadequate digital adoption on employee productivity must also be considered, in addition to employee satisfaction. There could be millions of wasted work hours worldwide because one in three employees (36%) admit they lose at least an hour each week troubleshooting software-related issues. Employers must keep every employee in their positions for as long as feasible due to the growing labor scarcity and probable recruitment bottlenecks.

Poor adoption sabotages digital transformation

Poor digital adoption will make it difficult for you to complete your digital transformation and will reduce the return on investment (ROI) from investing in new software.

All direct and indirect costs associated with software adoption are included in the total cost of ownership (TCO). Low adoption increases costs and inefficiencies. A high total cost of ownership for new platforms is caused by a lack of continuous training and performance support in addition to the relatively modest initial licensing or subscription fee. As a result, businesses can only reap some advantages of adopting new technologies.

Globally, businesses invest an average of $1.4 trillion annually on transformation initiatives with little to no effect on daily operations or the bottom line. This number equates to 70% of all investments made globally in digital transformation initiatives, meaning roughly 75% of endeavors fail.

According to the survey, 24% of business leaders claimed that less than half of their new software implementations met their desired goals because of inadequate digital adoption and other associated reasons.

Technology turnover is a major issue, with businesses replacing software with an alternative solution when the original doesn't provide the desired value. In many cases, a lack of proper digital adoption is the cause of poor adoption, which is why many businesses wrongly link it to product defects.

You can't afford to buy a new copy every time your software breaks. This results in a costly, time-consuming, and disruptive vicious loop that may harm your long-term objectives and day-to-day business operations.

How to improve the digital employee experience

Periodic evaluations are an expensive and ineffective way to improve the typical one-time training method. Companies, however, require a different strategy because training is a requirement. Although it shouldn't be the only choice, classroom instruction does have its place.

Combining training approaches results in a more effective training model, which guarantees training options for various situations, requirements, and learning preferences. One-on-one help is the most common type of training option. Companies that can do this should do so, but they should also consider obvious scaling limitations.

Utilizing a digital adoption platform (DAP) is the second most popular and far more scalable alternative. Existing textual training materials can be quickly converted into interactive guides in the DAP so that they can be customized for the unique requirements of various roles or teams. Another significant benefit of a DAP is that, in contrast to the IT team, they are always accessible to assist staff in resolving software-related issues.

DAPs can be used with more conventional methods to provide employees with more relevant, in-the-moment, and practical training. In addition to being easily scaleable, enterprise DAPs are data-rich and offer insights into how and why employees use (or don't use) their software.

To ensure the business fully uses the software it invests in, the digital adoption team might interview employees and track employee adoption rates using product analysis. This group can assess how well employees use software and how frequently or for long they do.