4 Digital Adoption Rules for Transformation Success

Leading digital transformation requires many hats. The technology piece is obvious. A hat dedicated to refining the business strategy is also key. But in order to truly manage the complexity inherent in digital transformation, your top hat must be a people hat.

While you create the blueprints for leading digital transformation, your workforce is bearing the effects of all of the changes. Unless you’re prepared to provide the right training and support, resistance and disengagement are guaranteed.

Dive Deeper: Digital Transformation Decoded — The CEO’s Playbook

Digital adoption is a prerequisite to digital transformation success

When 27% of executives call digital transformation a matter of survival, the need for employees to embrace digital initiatives and adopt technology is critical.

But too often, leaders dive into digital transformation unprepared to facilitate digital adoption. Unless employees have the resources to effectively integrate new digital tools and take advantage of the full range of capabilities, your digital transformation will fall flat.

4 digital adoption rules to guide you

1. Assess the current state of use

The first of the digital adoption rules is to take inventory of how your enterprise is currently using technology. Begin by assessing the current state of processes and identify user pain points. In particular, you want to examine the employee experience on workplace technology.

Common pain points include lack of training, poor onboarding, and complex user interfaces as just some of the barriers to an optimum working environment.

Evaluating the current state of usability and challenges will help you identify the right goals to fulfill. Knowing what processes you want to improve is half of the battle when working toward a state of digital adoption.

2. Speak candidly with employees about their experience

Digital transformation efforts live and die based on the response of employees. Initiatives that don’t address employees’ needs won’t get very far. A key digital adoption rule is taking the time to consult employees about what’s missing — whether it’s software capabilities, more effective training, or online digital support tools — is critical to successful adoption.

By incorporating employee feedback, you can ensure your digital transformation never veers away from the human element of change. Decision makers often make the mistake of focusing on advancing technology rather than aiming to enhance the employee experience.

Focusing on how technology can augment and improve the capabilities of employees delivers a more productive transformation experience all around.

3. Identify the most effective digital adoption solution

A digital adoption solution is a manager’s best bet for getting employees comfortable with new technology quickly. Training strategies that emphasize mentoring and documentation have limited success in engaging employees. Shift finds that one out of every three employees says that uninspiring content is a barrier to their learning.

Digital adoption solutions provide on-screen tutorials and real-time contextual guidance so employees can use unfamiliar or complex software platforms easily.

Implementing effective training methods is an essential component of successfully onboarding your employees to new software. Instead of relying on managers to train dozens of employees, you can use a digital adoption solution to let employees learn independently.

Empower your employees to adopt technology with WalkMe. Request a demo.

4. Ramp up your training resources

Delivering personalized and targeted training is an essential component of achieving digital adoption. While many companies aim to train employees through traditional methods, such as instructor-led sessions and manuals, these tactics are time-consuming and far less effective. A 2015 ATD study found that only 38% of managers believe their learning programs meet the needs of learners.

Combining a digital adoption solution with searchable resources is preferable to mentor-based training because it gives employees the chance to educate themselves independently.

By giving employees digital learning materials, you allow them to develop competency and become productive much quicker. With the right training materials, employees will have everything they need to tackle the trials and tribulations of digital transformation.

Digital adoption: A necessity for digital transformation

Digital adoption is an essential ingredient of digital transformation. If employees don’t embrace and fully adopt technology, then your digital transformation will never reach its full potential.

Focusing on achieving full adoption of new technology will position employees to seamlessly integrate new tools into their workflows and keep performance high.

By WalkMe Team

WalkMe pioneered the Digital Adoption Platform (DAP) for organizations to utilize the full potential of their digital assets. Using artificial intelligence, machine learning and contextual guidance, WalkMe adds a dynamic user interface layer to raise the digital literacy of all users.