Technology Adoption | read
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
Ta7awul is a suite of products and services that we have built to support organizations increase employee adoption and consumption of new and existing technology solutions.
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Originally published Sep 9, 2019 2:44:30 PM, updated September 9, 2019
Topics: Technology Adoption
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New technologies like mobile devices, smartphone apps, or cloud-based solutions have changed the B2B playing field in the past two decades.
Implementing these new software solutions has been dramatically simplified, with little or no technology resources required.
But while operational, financial, and HR systems promise everything from better resource and time management to lower costs, the tools and solutions themselves, don’t actually do all the work. It’s the people using them that define the success for a new IT technology at an organisation.
When adopting a new technology– you need to plan, identify and address implementation challenges early. The work does not stop here. Management team responsible for the change needs to drive engagement, enhance efficiencies and improve user adoption – enabling you to maximise your return on investment.
Otherwise, your technology is just an expensive tool that none of your employees use effectively.
Often technology teams choose a specific technology based on the recognition of the vendor and brand (ie. SAP, Microsoft, Oracle), and not because it is necessarily the best solution for their business and team’s goals.
When choosing a new technology to implement for your organisation don’t just look for a popular brand name or the price. Carefully assess your strategy.
Think about how this new IT solution will help you achieve your strategic goals. Will it help your team and make their tasks easier? After all, the purpose of introducing a new solution is to improve business performance.
When looking for a new technology, start with the goals you want to achieve, and then plan backwards to find a technology that best supports those goals.
People are more likely to adopt new technology if they can see how it helps them to achieve their goals and objectives.
You may also be interested in: How to Find the Right Software and Save More With Digital Transformation
Software upgrades or introducing new technologies carry compatibility risks. Your new systems may turn out to be incompatible with existing systems or the integration may require more effort than expected.
To prevent these possible issues, make sure to review all your current IT solutions thoroughly before deploying anything new. Don’t just gather detailed requirements for the new technology. Also check whether the functionality of your current software can support and integrate effectively with your new IT solution. Performing this audit upfront will prevent system redundancies, reduce costly build times, and keep you on the budget.
Support from the management when introducing a new IT solution is critical. In fact, lack of management support is often the primary reason an implementation fails in an organisation.
The most successful implementations are typically driven by a technology champion who takes complete ownership for communications, issue resolution, and avoidance. This individual should ideally have an authority within the organisation. This champion should also be empowered to make decisions, and be accountable over the success of the initiative.
In addition, key management should stay on top of the new program. Email updates to these important roles are not enough. Other stakeholders in operations, administrations, or executive directors should also be familiar with the technology to have insight into the value to be gained by it.
Managers should make sure that everyone at the organisation understands what’s coming next before it gets there. Responsible management team should set expectations for how the technology will affect each and every person involved.
Get your employees well prepared for the new tools in advance and make sure they understand its value to the workflow and processes. Answer all their potential questions - how will their jobs change? What are their new responsibilities with the tool? How soon can they expect to see the benefits?
Management should hold a kick-off meeting with key stakeholders to define the upcoming changes, reinforce the reasons the technology is being adopted, and clearly outline the roles and responsibilities for everyone involved.
One of the biggest risks to employee adoption is lack of adequate and customised training.
Many software vendors offer training as part of the purchase package, however, most of this training is generic and not specific to your business processes.
Specific product training should be more than just a series of screenshots and PowerPoint presentation. Your employees need to see and play in the system, prior to go-live, in the context of their specific work processes.
To increase adoption chances, make sure that training is specific to each group and their workflows.
Not everyone learns and adapts a new technology in the same way. Offer multiple training methods – electronic, classroom, smaller hands-on training labs – various options ensure users feel most prepared.
You May Be Interested In: Employee Engagement- Why It Matters
It is critical to closely work with the software vendor at the very beginning of the partnership to identify and agree upon expected results.
Management should be realistic in expectations. They should continually monitor progress toward the goals of the technology initiative and understand where tweaks are needed. What kind of measurable impact does the technology delivers? Is it living up to expectations? If not, understand why and take measures to fix the gaps.
In addition, management should work with their technology partners in tracking important milestones. Management should make an effort to speed up the time between training and go-live, avoiding any prolonged gaps that could put adoption at risk.
Gather feedback from users at the beginning and then two weeks into the implementation. If adoption isn’t going as well as hoped, work with the technology partner to find out why and identify what can be improved.
Management should also demand a quarterly review with the technology partner to check progress toward deployment milestones and the value achieved. This can provide for short-term course corrections and good visibility into the success of the project. After all, continuous improvement is a core part of every successful technology adoption.
In conclusion, successful technology adoption requires a foundation of motivated people, processes, management commitment, and best practices to deliver the benefits of a solution that it promises to deliver.
Ongoing support, best practices, and successful services from the technology vendors along with internal teams and processes are just as important as the new products themselves.
Did you recently invest in a new IT solution? We can help your team come around the technology adoption challenges.
Start here to check out our TAP aka Technology Adoption Program for your organisation.
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So you have invested in a cool new IT technology for your business. All is going great, except...your employees are not using it yet. 😥
Employee adoption is one of the biggest challenges in digital transformation for any organisation. Getting new software into your organisation can boost your entire business' operations. It can increase productivity, generate more leads, improve customer service and help the C-suite make better decisions.
Employees are the key to adopt new technology and to the successful digital transformation of your organisation. The sooner the new technology becomes part of the day to day work routine in your organisation, the better.
Make sure that you inform your employees properly of all the advantage of the new technology. Will this new tool save them time (or nerves), will it boost their productivity? Or will it alleviate their stress job-related and make their work-flow more efficient?
Paint a detailed picture for them because they probably will not know this at an early stage. Once they become aware of all the benefits associated with the new software, they will be more likely to get on board.
Humans are creatures of habit. It is not as easy as you may think for some of us to adopt new tools and gadgets. This especially true if your team has been working with the same workflow and tools for the past several years.
So before giving them deadlines or ultimatums, put yourself in their shoes. Consider their age and general attitude towards change. Are they young and grew up with digital technology? Or are they enthusiastic about new technologies? Based on this information create the best possible plan and timeline for the adoption of the new IT technology.
You may notice that each employee may have a different speed of adopting and becoming proficient with the new system. And that's okay. Just make sure to give your team a reasonable timeline to switch over to the new tool.
Find a team member who is known to be great with new technology and assign them the role of a champion. Seek their help in promoting, training and gathering employee feedback on the new software.
Having a relatable influencer can positively impact the attitudes of the employees and help them transition in a much easier way.
Encourage your team members to train and adopt the new tool. Reward those that do adapt quickly and use the new technology at work. These incentives can be gift cards, perks, swag, or anything that really excites the employees about the new transformation.
In conclusion, introducing new technology to your team can be demanding and difficult, especially when it comes time to motivate employees to use it. But with a little tact, patience and empathy you and your team can get there. Besides this, don't forget to make it a fun process for your team. And they will reward you with cooperating and getting on board with you and the new technology.
Are you currently struggling to implement new technologies in your company?
Learn how Exceeders' Technology Adoption Program (Ta7awul) can help your employees get on board with the new technology at your organisation.
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