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Technology Adoption | read

5 Technology adoption mistakes that most enterprises make

Written by Abdul Rahim Al Moustapha
Sep 9, 2019 2:44:30 PM
Written by Abdul Rahim Al Moustapha

As we have written before Technology Adoption is crucial in support any organization’s digital transformation journey. Still though the majority of IT Teams spending a lot of hard work, huge budgets and time managing this change fall short of their goals by poor end user adoption of the technologies they are introducing. Regardless of what anyone might say, you can provide employees with the best software available but if nobody is using them these software are a wasted investment. 

There are a number of key mistakes that we have observed in technology adoption programs IT Teams run. We will highlight the top 3 and give some recommendations on how you can avoid them.

Does it solve your employee’s problems?

A lot of the time IT Teams introduce new technologies that doesn’t add a lot of value to employees which results in resistance to using the new software. If you acquire quality software that has a clear and profound impact on the employee’s work, adoption would happen on it’s own. Make sure whenever you are considering acquiring or building new solutions to consult with your users  and see if this solution really adds a lot of value and benefit to them before proceeding.

Do they know how to use it?

Regardless of how much time anfd effort you put in implementing or developing a new solution, users who are accustomed to old platforms will not shift easily. Every IT Team should solve this by ensuring they issue quality documentation, provide a mixture of trainings (Classrom, Online, Video on Demand, Tutorials) and build software socialization activities to smooth the adoption process.

 

Continuous Efforts instead of ones just during launch

IT Teams think that employees will easily pick up new technology once launch, but even if the software is an improvement of what they had, they will slowly start drifting back to the old software because they are used to it. User needs time to learn the ins-and-outs of the software they use, and if they don’t have a firm grip on the functionality, they won't use it on a daily basis. Keep educating them not only during the launch phase, and make it easy for them to access information and help when they need it.

Initial Resistors

In every company regardless how hard you try there will be a group of employees that will resist any new piece of technology. The traditional approach with them was to avoid them and forget about them focusing on the other employees. This is wrong, since once the other employees see that they are still doing work the old way they will start drifting back and refusing the new changes. Instead of neglecting them use them as test subjects early on, give them beta access, listen to them and see how they might help you improve your software. If they turn from resistors to early adopters it will make your adoption plan much easier. 

 

Getting Stakeholder Agreement

If there is an ideological rift within the business when it comes to new software implementation, more issues will present themselves as the project progresses or, worse yet, user adoption efforts may flat-out fail. The best approach is to keep a constant pulse on stakeholder opinions, sparking up macro-level conversations as often as possible. By discussing and debating the biggest issues in a project, stakeholders are encouraged to create a unified plan based on the most important question at hand: What's the best way to win user adoption with this project?

Final Words

Technology adoption isn’t about events, training and announcements only. It is a systematic approach to aimed at understanding user needs, showing them how you will be helping them meet their objectives, removing their restraints, training them and continuously supporting during your transformation journey. What most companies fail to see is that employee adoption is a core of their digital transformation journey, without their users having the best software in the world won't be enough to give them the edge they are seeking.

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Originally published Sep 9, 2019 2:44:30 PM, updated September 9, 2019

Topics: Technology Adoption

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Part 1: Technology Adoption  and the Remote Work Experience

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Now that everyone is suddenly working from home, technology adoption is more important than ever before. 

But just what is ‘technology adoption’? Technology adoption is defined as the acceptance, integration, and use of new technology within an organization (or society). 

Why are technology adoption services suddenly some of the most demanded services of 2020? 

Due to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, public and private sector companies worldwide found themselves asking employees to work from home. This shift in the operating model was especially stressful for IT units who have had to cope with a series of new responsibilities and challenges. These include:

  • Ensuring employees, partners, and sometimes customers, have adequate remote access to organizational systems and software. 
  • Ensuring systems being accessed remotely are secure and available (no downtime). 
  • Ensuring employees have the right software, and hardware, to access systems from their homes. 
  • Ensuring they actually know how to access these systems and use them.

In addition to the above, and perhaps most importantly, the burden of trying to make sure people are ‘productive’ on the job suddenly shifted from HR teams to IT teams, with senior management and employees looking to their IT people to make everyone ‘remote-work ready’.

What makes an organization ‘remote-work ready’? There are several answers to that question, but the most obvious are: 

  • The right machines (hardware)
  • The right systems (software)
  • An internet connection
  • The ability to use the aforementioned hardware and software. 

This is where technology adoption comes into play. Having the right machines and systems means little if employees are unable to use them remotely or do not even know they exist. Which then brings us to the question, how do you enable employees to use new systems remotely? Traditional technology adoption is no longer an option - you cannot put them all in a room and train them. 

Elements of Digital Adoption

Remote technology enablement needs five elements to be truly effective: 

  • Awareness: Users need to know the technology is there and available. There needs to be a channel available where employees know they can find information about the technologies, when they were launched, where to locate them, and why they need to be used. 
  • Training: This needs to be online training, but it also needs to be flexible. Remote working means that you no longer have control over employee schedules as remote workers may be a continent or several time zones away. 
  • Learning materials: Remote employees need to be able to access learning materials on demand
     in the form of documents, videos, tutorials, etc. in a convenient library.
  • Support: Support is vital for anyone working remotely. Support should be in the form of should be in the form of immediate support if possible, through chat bot or live agent, as well as less immediate support in the form of tickets for non-urgent matters. 

The elements above cover the technology users needs throughout the technology adoption lifecycle. 

If you don’t have those elements in place, what is likely to happen? 

The best case scenario is that employees working remotely will struggle daily with trying to understand the new operating model and adjust to the new technologies required for business continuity. This may result in several hours of productivity wasted daily, and a lot of frustration.  The worst case scenario is a complete halt to business continuity with key people unable to access the systems they need, and IT overwhelmed with support incidents and complaints. 

In Part 2, I will discuss how organizations can put together a quick technology adoption solution. 

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How to Manage Your Business Operations Remotely During a Global Pandemic

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COVID-19 has become the most circulated word in 2020. This pandemic has already impacted the way organisations operate and will continue to fundamentally change them in the foreseeable future.

As this continues to impact our lives, remote working is our new reality. So, how do leaders, managers, & employees make this abrupt shift with minimal dips in efficiency? 

managing remote teams

Since we have been implementing remote working since 2014, we have come up with some guidelines on how you & your employees can effectively transition into remote working. 

Any sudden change in the work environment is enough to disrupt operations if the business is not prepared or if it has not anticipated such a change. And this is exactly what is happening with most businesses today. In order to adjust to this new - hopefully temporary - “normal”, leaders should first prepare their employees mentally & should get the appropriate infrastructure to support remote working. 

  • Do they have laptops for employees?
  • Do they have the right software to perform their tasks? The right software to hold conference calls?
  • Do they have the right software programs that MONITOR whether jobs are being fulfilled and operations effectively completed?

These are some of many things to consider during a transition like this.

Tips for remote project managers

We have listed below some pointers that have proven effective over our 6 years of implementing remote working: 

Communication

Aside from the operational side of things, leaders must ensure that their employees are ready to handle their new lifestyle. COMMUNICATE. Have a group conversation with employees assuring them that there is certainty in the midst of all their uncertainty. Team members should constantly feel like they know what’s going on.

“This is a different time for us. We don’t know how long this will last but we are here to support each other and lift each other up. We will make sure you have what you need to continue your work as “normally” as possible.”

This type of assurance will help ease employees into this lifestyle and give them confidence that it will work. It is also imperative to set recurring meetings just so there is clarity on things and so the “teamwork” vibes are sustained. Frequency of contact should be maintained to keep the connections people had at the office. 

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Discipline

It can be quite a shock to the human being to go from one way of life to another in a short period of time. Psychologically, employees need to be ready. That’s why it is advised to encourage employees to develop disciplined rituals so that they can stay on top of their tasks and remain productive:

  • Set your alarm early in the morning as if you’re heading to the office
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  • Create a plan: “what are my tasks for today?” 
  • Schedule your lunch/coffee breaks (minimise them to match your office breaks)

 

As for infrastructure requirements, we compiled a list of the most crucial systems you need to thrive today.

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