Dive Brief:
- Six in 10 IT leaders are concerned end users are not adopting new tech quickly enough, endangering the return on investment for digital projects, according to an annual digital adoption report by WalkMe released Wednesday.
- On average, organizations waste more than one-third of transformation investments on projects that fail to meet goals, which surveyed nearly 1,500 senior business leaders across the globe.
- Companies invest in new technologies to solve a problem – optimize operations, reduce time or minimize costs. But when end users do not adopt a piece of technology, this results in wasted resources and frustration among staff and stakeholders, according to the report.
Dive Insight:
Poor adoption often results in wasted investments and affects talent retention. A little over 60% of leaders found poor digital experiences contribute to employees turning in their resignations, according to the report.
In the tech industry, employee attrition is a huge problem resulting in obstacles to growth and failure to reach data aspirations. In the broader landscape, the Great Resignation is still ongoing, with employers raising wages and providing additional benefits to attract workers.
IT teams can help with retention by addressing the struggle of adopting new tech in the workplace.
The best way to do this is to include end users in the process before any new technology is integrated into their day-to-day routine, according to Brian Jackson, research director at Info-Tech Research Group.
“Communicate with them about what change is coming and why the change is being made,” Jackson said in an email. “If IT [teams] can demonstrate how the new technology will help make users’ jobs a bit easier or drive better performance, then getting buy-in shouldn’t be too hard.”
While technology investments can improve business performance and operations, that’s not always the case. If there is substantial pushback from end users, tech leaders should reevaluate the adoption of a new tool, Jackson said.
“Too often, technology projects are not aligned with an organization’s overall strategy, and that is a major reason that they end up failing,” Jackson said. “If a user is pushing back and saying that the new tool isn’t helping them deliver good results, listen to them and consider that the technology may indeed be the problem, not the people.
