Driving Digital Transformation Through Software Adoption

Digital transformation becomes critical for businesses seeking to thrive in an ever-changing landscape. As technology advances, organizations must embrace digital adoption strategies to stay competitive and meet employee expectations. Here we explore the essential factors, roadblocks, and best practices that drive successful digital transformation and software adoption.

Digital transformation involves integrating digital technologies into every facet of an organization, revolutionizing operations, customer experiences, and overall value delivery. However, achieving successful digital transformation requires more than just implementing new tools. It necessitates a comprehensive adoption strategy that addresses challenges and maximizes the benefits of technology investments. Only 16% of organizations see their digital transformation initiatives succeed; surveys note poor digital adoption rates attributing to that failure.

While the potential rewards of digital transformation are substantial, businesses often need help with roadblocks. These roadblocks can include resistance to change, lack of employee buy-in, and inadequate planning. Overcoming these challenges requires a deep understanding of the factors contributing to successful digital adoption.

Let’s delve into the best practices that help drive successful digital transformation. These practices include developing a robust change management strategy, fostering a culture of innovation, and investing in employee training and upskilling.

Key Elements of Software Adoption  

Digital adoption has become a pressing issue for organizations of all sizes and industries. In a rapidly changing digital landscape, companies that fail to keep up risk falling behind their competitors and losing market share. But digital adoption isn’t just about technology – it’s also about people. 

 Employees expect seamless training and support in using new digital tools. To meet these needs, organizational processes, features, and structures may need to be rethought to take full advantage of advancing digital capabilities. The stakes are high, and the challenges are real, but with the right approach, digital adoption transforms businesses and improves the lives of employees and customers alike. 

Key Elements of Digital Adoption that Help Enable and Support Employees

• User Training and Support: One of the most essential elements of digital adoption is ensuring that users are trained and supported in using new digital tools and technologies. This includes providing training on how to use software and hardware and ongoing support to troubleshoot issues and answer questions. Without proper training and support, users may resist adopting new digital tools or struggle to use them effectively. 

• Process Optimization: Digital adoption often involves rethinking and optimizing business processes to use new digital tools and technologies. This may involve automating manual tasks, streamlining workflows, and reorganizing teams and departments to better align with digital capabilities. Process optimization can help organizations to achieve greater efficiency, cost savings, and productivity. 

• Software Integration: Digital adoption may involve integrating new software applications with existing systems and infrastructure. This can be a complex process that requires careful planning and execution. Still, it is essential to ensure that new digital tools can work seamlessly with existing business processes and technologies. Integration can also reduce duplication of effort and improve data accuracy and consistency. 

• Change Management: Digital adoption often involves significant changes to how organizations operate and employees’ roles and responsibilities. Effective change management is essential for ensuring these changes are implemented smoothly, and employees are engaged and motivated to adopt new digital tools and processes. This may involve communicating the benefits of digital adoption, involving employees in the planning and implementation, and addressing concerns and resistance to change. 

Digital adoption is not just about implementing new tools and technologies; it’s about transforming how organizations work, and people interact with technology. From the healthcare industry to retail, banking, manufacturing, and education, digital adoption has revolutionized the way that organizations operate and interact with their customers. 

However, digital adoption is not without its challenges. It requires careful planning, effective communication, and a willingness to embrace change. But when done right, digital adoption can lead to significant benefits, including improved efficiency, cost savings, and enhanced customer experience. 

At the heart of digital adoption are people – the users who interact with new digital tools, the employees who must adapt to new processes, and the customers who expect seamless and personalized experiences. By focusing on user training and support, process optimization, software integration, and change management, organizations can ensure their digital adoption efforts succeed and deliver the desired outcomes. 

Digital adoption is not just a buzzword or a passing trend – it is a fundamental shift in how we live and work. As individuals and organizations, we must embrace digital adoption and use it to create a better future for ourselves and those around us. 

Digital Adoption Challenges 

“By 2025, 70% of organizations will use digital adoption platforms across the entire technology stack to overcome still insufficient application user experiences.” – Gartner, Market Guide for Digital Adoption Platforms, Melissa Hilbert, Maria Marino, Stephen Emmott, 14 September 2022.

Digital adoption is critical to modern business, allowing organizations to leverage new technologies and stay competitive in an ever-evolving market. However, the journey towards digital adoption is not without its challenges. Organizations face numerous obstacles to digital transformation, from the struggle to integrate new systems with legacy infrastructure to the need for extensive employee training and cybersecurity measures.  

Additionally, the impact of digital adoption extends beyond the realm of business, affecting individuals’ access to technology and skills and society’s ability to bridge the digital divide. Despite these challenges, the benefits of digital adoption are vast, and organizations that successfully navigate the obstacles can reap significant rewards. Let’s explore some key challenges organizations face in adopting digital technologies and how to overcome them. 

1. Ineffective Onboarding & Poor Training 
2. Lack of Support 
3. Integrated Application Used by a User 
4. Resistance to Change  
5. Lack of Attention 
6. Integration Issue 
7. Cyber-security Risks 
8. Lack of Digital Skills 
9. Cost 
10. Information Overload 
11. Lack of Standardization 
12. Limited Resources 
13. Regulatory Compliance 
14. Digital Divide 

1.  Ineffective Onboarding &Poor Training: Whether it’s an employee or a user, successful onboarding and training play a vital role in the success of Digital adoption. Good onboarding is the key to success for any organization; poor onboarding could cost up to 213% of the employee’s salary. Further good training ensures employee retention and 69 % assurance that an employee will stay for three years if experienced a good onboarding experience. In the case of users, they will leave the application if it consumes too much time while onboarding. 
   
2. Lack of Support: Customer support is an integral part of digital adoption; most often, your customers would like to rely on it as they want someone to have their back. 71% of companies lose their business because of poor customer support. These are staggering numbers and clearly show the importance of support. 
   
3. Integrated Application Used by a User: Today, in order to complete their work, employees use numerous applications. As a result, they get confused or lost. The time to find their way through the software could cost dearly to any organization. Further, it affects the productivity of the employee. A proper strategy must be in place to make employees comfortable with an application. 
   
4. Resistance to Change: Employees are generally resistant to change, and this is the biggest barrier to digital adoption. Change is common for any business; every business migrates from its old system to the new system to catch up with current trends and meet the expected demands.  If they do not change just because they are not comfortable, the reliance on old technology will become a significant disadvantage for the organization. It is an organization’s responsibility to ensure that employees are on board with the organization’s vision. The organization should further set expectations and enable resources to smooth these processes. 
   
5. Lack of Attention: The user’s attention span these days is less than 8 seconds. You could potentially lose a customer if you don’t grab their attention. To overcome that, create an incredible user experience across the application and increase the engagement rate. Use tools like a digital adoption platform (DAP) to enable this. 
   
6. Integration Issues: Integrating new digital technologies with existing systems and infrastructure can be complex and time-consuming. Incompatibilities between different systems can result in data errors or duplication, while legacy systems may be unable to support new technologies. Organizations must carefully plan and execute integration to ensure new digital tools work seamlessly with existing infrastructure. 
   
7. Cyber-security Risks: Digital adoption can increase cyber-security risks as organizations rely more heavily on digital systems and data. Cyber-attacks such as data breaches and ransomware can have serious consequences, including financial losses and damage to reputation. Organizations must invest in cyber-security measures such as firewalls, antivirus software, and employee training to mitigate these risks. 
   
8. Lack of Digital Skills: Digital adoption requires a skilled workforce that can effectively use and manage new technologies. However, many organizations may not have the necessary in-house skills or struggle to attract and retain employees with digital skills. Training and development programs can help build a digitally capable workforce. 
   
9. Cost: Digital adoption can require significant hardware, software, and infrastructure investments. This can be a major obstacle to adoption for smaller organizations or those with limited budgets. However, failing to invest in digital technologies can ultimately be more costly in terms of lost productivity and competitiveness. 
   
10. Information Overload: Digital technologies can generate a vast amount of data, which can be overwhelming and difficult to manage. Organizations may struggle to find the right tools and strategies to collect, store, and analyze data effectively, leading to missed insights and lost opportunities.
     
11. Lack of Standardization: Digital technologies can vary greatly regarding their features, capabilities, and compatibility with other systems. This lack of standardization can make it difficult for organizations to choose and integrate the right technologies with existing systems. 
    
12. Limited Resources: Adopting digital technologies requires significant resources, including time, money, and staff. Small businesses or those with limited budgets may find it challenging to invest in new technologies or to compete with larger organizations with greater resources. 
    
13. Regulatory Compliance: Many industries are subject to strict data privacy and security requirements. Organizations may need to invest in additional measures to comply with these regulations, such as encryption or data anonymization, adding to the complexity and cost of digital adoption. 
    
14. Digital Divide: Not all employees or customers may have access to the necessary digital technologies or skills to participate in digital adoption fully. This can create a digital divide within organizations or across society, leading to inequities and exclusion. 

Read more: https://www.apty.io/blog/digital-adoption-strategies/

Tips for Successful Implementation of Digital Technologies

According to IDC, global spending on technologies and services that enable digital transformation will reach $2.3 trillion by 2023.

Digital technologies rapidly transform how we live and work. From artificial intelligence to cloud computing, organizations increasingly adopt digital technologies to streamline their operations, increase efficiency, and stay competitive. However, implementing digital technologies is not without its challenges. From inadequate training to cyber-security concerns, many obstacles can hinder successful implementation.  

That’s why it’s essential to approach digital adoption with a clear plan and a focus on user needs. In this article, we’ll explore some tips for successfully implementing digital technologies and overcoming common challenges. So, let’s dive in and discover how organizations can harness the power of digital technologies for success. 

1. Define clear goals and objectives: Before implementing any digital technology, it is essential to define clear goals and objectives that align with the overall business strategy. This will help ensure that the technology is being implemented for the right reasons and can be measured for success. 
   
2. Involve stakeholders: Involve all stakeholders in the planning process to ensure everyone’s needs are addressed and buy-in is obtained. This includes employees, customers, partners, and any other relevant parties. 
   
3. Conduct a thorough needs analysis: Conduct a thorough analysis of business processes, workflows, and current technology to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement. This analysis will help identify the most suitable digital technologies to implement. 
   
4. Choose the right technology: Select digital technologies suitable for the organization’s needs, budget, and infrastructure. It is important to evaluate multiple options and choose the best fit for the organization. 
   
5. Plan for integration: Plan for the integration of new digital technologies with existing systems and infrastructure. This includes ensuring that the technology is compatible with existing systems and addressing any issues related to data migration and security. 
   
6. Prioritize training and support: Prioritize training and support for all users of the new technology, including employees, partners, and customers. This will ensure everyone is equipped with the necessary skills to use the technology effectively. 
   
7. Monitor and measure success: Continuously monitor and measure the success of the implementation. This includes tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) such as adoption rate, usage, and ROI. This information can be used to identify areas for improvement and optimize the implementation over time. 
   
8. Address Cyber-security concerns: Address cyber-security concerns by implementing appropriate security measures such as firewalls, encryption, and access controls. Regularly updating software and systems is also important to ensure they remain secure. 
   
9. Maintain agility: Maintain agility by remaining open to feedback and making necessary changes. Digital technologies constantly evolve, and organizations must be prepared to adapt and change to stay competitive. 

Software Adoption Use Cases in Different Industries

Healthcare

A leading healthcare provider that offers concierge-style medical care to seniors with complex healthcare needs. The company has more than 70 locations across 10 states in the United States. Their mission is to provide affordable, personalized care that improves the health and well-being of seniors in underserved communities. 

The Challenge:

The challenges faced by the leading healthcare provider include  

• Improving employee onboarding and engagement. 
• Ensuring new employees complete mandatory requirements before deadlines. 
• Managing organizational goals and performance OKRs across the organization. 

The Solution:

To address these challenges, they needed a more efficient and effective way to manage employee onboarding, centralize all employee communications, and create a central repository for critical process-related queries. 

With the implementation of Apty, a software adoption platform, the leading healthcare provider was able to: 

•  Establish standards and consistent processes for managing new hire onboarding and employee engagement. 
•  Improve the understanding and adoption of technology. 
•  Gain visibility into employee struggles with complying with new standards. 

Retail

Use case for an American privately-owned omnichannel marketing company that offers a wide range of beauty products, including skincare, makeup, and fragrances. Its business model relies on independent sales representatives, who earn commissions on their sales and have the opportunity to build their businesses. 

The Challenge 

1. Language and cultural barriers: With operations in 24 countries and 15 languages, Mary Kay had to ensure that Apty could cater to its global workforce’s diverse linguistic and cultural needs. 
2. User adoption: Ensuring representatives across different countries and languages could understand and adopt Apty to improve their customer experience and sales results. 
3. Technical support: Implementing a new digital tool like Apty required technical support to its global workforce to ensure that they could use the platform effectively and efficiently. 

The Solution:

Apty was instrumental in addressing its digital onboarding and training challenges. Implementing Apty provided better support to their end users across multiple countries and languages, reducing support tickets and improving customer experience. The software adoption platform’s intuitive interface made it easier for this omnichannel marketing company to streamline its training processes and ensure consistent onboarding for new representatives. Overall, Apty showed value realization in helping achieve business goals and empower employees worldwide. 

Banking

 A global bank wanted to update and modernize its planning systems and process compliance enforcement to ensure data quality and training challenges.  

The Challenge:

Despite a thorough and established plan, the bank faced critical challenges with complex workflows, difficulty ensuring process compliance, & a gap in understanding the training program’s pain points. 

The Solution:

The American national bank–and U.S. subsidiary of a multinational bank group–turned to Apty for help leading their digital adoption strategy to meet data integrity goals across their enterprise. This led to the following: 

• Overcoming ineffective training & data inconsistency issues 
• Intuitive walkthroughs enable users to quickly & efficiently complete tasks 
• Streamline business process compliance & data hygiene with custom data validations 

By using an enterprise software adoption platform, they could not only streamline and simplify all their employee onboarding and training efforts but also improve their bottom line: 

• 80% savings in software support & maintenance cost 
• An average $275k annual savings on $25k investment 
• Automated onboarding guidance & in-app support for 30k users within an average of 2 months. 

 Steps for Developing a Digital Adoption Plan

Developing a digital adoption plan is crucial in successfully integrating digital technologies within an organization.

Follow these steps to develop a holistic digital adoption plan: 

• Identify Business Goals: The first step in developing a digital adoption plan is to identify the business goals that digital adoption will help achieve. This could include increasing revenue, improving customer satisfaction, reducing costs, or enhancing employee productivity. 

• Assess Current State: Once the business goals are identified, it’s essential to assess the current state of the organization’s technology infrastructure, processes, and employee skill sets. This assessment will help identify any gaps that must be addressed to achieve the desired business goals. 

• Define Objectives and Metrics: After assessing the current state, the next step is to define the objectives that digital adoption will help achieve. These objectives should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). It’s also essential to define metrics that will be used to measure progress and success. 

• Determine Scope: The scope of the digital adoption plan should be determined based on the business goals, objectives, and available resources. This includes identifying which digital technologies will be adopted, which departments or teams will be impacted, and the timeline for adoption. 

• Develop an Implementation Plan: The implementation plan outlines the steps and timeline for implementing digital technologies within the organization. This should include a detailed timeline, milestones, and tasks for each phase of the adoption process. 

• Address Change Management: Change management is critical to successful digital adoption. The digital adoption plan should include strategies for managing change, such as communication plans, stakeholder engagement, and training plans. 

• Monitor and Adjust: Once the digital adoption plan is implemented, monitoring progress and adjusting the plan as needed is essential. This includes regularly tracking metrics and identifying areas for improvement, adjusting the plan, and continuously evaluating the impact of digital adoption on business goals. 

Software Platforms That Benefit Most From Digital Adoption Tools

Streamline HCM Processes

Optimizing human capital management (HCM) processes in today’s business landscape is crucial for effective workforce management and business success. A robust software adoption platform offers a comprehensive solution streamlining HCM processes and incorporating cross-application guided experiences across IT service management (ITSM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), acquisition, and human resources information system (HRIS) platforms. With an enterprise digital adoption tool, organizations can enhance efficiency, improve process compliance, and deliver an exceptional employee experience while integrating HR and other application functions for a seamless user experience. 

1. Enhanced Onboarding Experience: A digital adoption solution like Apty expedites onboarding and reduces employee onboarding costs by providing contextual checklists, guidance, and personalized content specific to job roles and the application used. It ensures a smooth transition for new employees. It also enables HR leaders to design tailored workflows for different user groups, delivering a customized experience and decoupling their process compliance execution from IT. Using DAPs allows L&D to integrate training materials in-app when users need assistance most. By optimizing the onboarding experience, organizations can accelerate employee integration, reduce onboarding time to value, and drive employee engagement and process compliance. 
   
2. Increased Efficiency and User Adoption: A digital adoption platform overcomes employee resistance and utilization challenges by providing personalized onboarding and goal-based activity tracking. Employees and HR leaders can easily navigate complex HCM processes on Workday, reducing incident resolution time and increasing productivity. An enterprise DAP promotes self-reliance and empowers employees to complete tasks and learn processes independently, increasing efficiency, decreasing management one-on-one training time, reducing process errors, increasing data integrity, and driving user adoption of HCM tools. 
   
3. Reduced FTE Costs: Reducing errors lowers FTE costs to support. Enterprise digital adoption tools help employees complete I-9 forms, find paystubs, create reports or time sheets, and leads them through a full process from start to finish with reduced errors and a seamless experience.
   
4. Improved Recruitment Yield & Efficiency Ratios: Software adoption tools help lower hiring costs by optimizing acquisition processes and providing a cross-application guided workflow to other platforms used for payroll, insurance, ADP, training, and more. Acquisition, HR, and L&D leaders benefit from real-time in-app educational material and recruitment process updates rolled and communicated to team members across enterprise platforms. By reducing hiring cycles, time-to-value, employee experiences, retention rates, and employee engagement, you can optimize the entire software experience across your enterprise.
   

Streamline ITSM Processes

Integrating ITSM change management practices across platforms while trying to ensure compliant processes is essential for organizations aiming to align HR, operations, sales, procurement, and IT functions. Apty’s intuitive assistance and real-time data validation ensure seamless ITSM processes and data compliance, enabling organizations to optimize their IT operations effectively. 

1. Seamless ITSM Processes for Reduced IT FTE Costs: DAPs reduce ad-hoc level 1 ticket requests by guiding users through ITSM tools like ServiceNow. It provides contextual in-app assistance and real-time data field validation to employees companywide on any enterprise platform, reducing the workload on IT departments and ensuring seamless IT service delivery. For IT, DAPs offer quick-reference self-help and enforced process compliance through guided ITSM workflows. Some DAP implementers have seen a 75% reduction in errors. By streamlining ITSM processes, organizations can enhance operational efficiency and improve service quality. 
   
2. Maximizing IT Investments: DAPs help organizations recover the total value of their IT investments by increasing user adoption and module utilization. CIOs can address both SaaS sprawl and shelfware by providing personalized onboarding and proactive guidance to enable employees in leveraging ITSM tools fully, maximizing the benefits and ROI of IT investments. With platforms like Apty, organizations can optimize their IT operations and drive productivity in their digital workflows. 
   
3. Optimize Change Management: As processes update across the company, departments, and job roles, software adoption tools can enforce and train employees on new process compliance parameters specific to their job roles. Process announcements with integrated videos, PDF guides, links, and other training materials can provide in-app learning in real-time. Scheduled and recurring reminders can help accelerate process and adoption goals across departments and target user segments that are lagging behind to meet organizational OKRs.
   
4. Increase Efficient Ticketing: Software adoption tools can help you create, manage, and resolve cases faster with guided process compliance. You can better integrate processes across ITSM and SPM modules with launched guided workflows that finish when a full process is complete. Implement quicker resolution times when level 1 tickets are resolved in-app with self-help widgets across departments and data input errors are reduced due to enforced process compliance features.
   

Using the features and analytics of digital adoption solutions like Apty for both HCM and ITSM processes, organizations can achieve operational excellence, improve compliance, and deliver exceptional employee experiences. Apty’s all-in-one platform provides the tools to solve digital adoption challenges, maximize efficiency, and create a seamless experience across various systems. With Apty as its ally, organizations can drive productivity, reduce training costs, and empower their workforce, ultimately leading to success in today’s dynamic business landscape.