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Planning Your Digital Adoption Strategy – 4 Fundamental Steps to Follow

Digital Adoption

Digital adoption, although necessary in the current business climate, is not an easy feat. In fact, a recent McKinsey study found that 70% of change programs are destined to fail. According to the study, employee resistance is the biggest hurdle every company will have to face if they want to be successful.

Of course, there are other obstacles to keep in mind, but the overall consensus is that digital adoption requires a well-planned strategy based on accurate data collected from the observation of an organization’s daily activities and internal flow.

Now, since every strategy is based on good planning, here are the four main steps to take in order to minimize the risk of failure:

#1: Get the Right Tools

Digital adoption doesn’t mean just adding fancy new tools to your daily operations. However, digital tools and devices are a big part of why organizations need to undergo this change.

Starting with the basics, such as administrative tools (electronic sheets, docs, messaging) and going up to software that extends throughout the organization (CRM systems, for instance), digital tools are a part of the new way of doing business.

So when you choose the type of tools that’ll make your job easier, you have to consider features, maintenance, compatibility with third-party apps, and so on. Plus, you also need to consider the adoption platform you’ll use.

Also known as DAP, a digital adoption platform makes the process easier and keeps everything organized. For instance, any of these digital adoption platforms can help with onboarding and training and will provide extremely valuable insights.

#2: Get Users On Board

And by users, we mean employees, since they will be the ones to work with the new system the most.

As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, employee resistance is the main hindrance when it comes to change, and digital adoption is a huge change. That’s why it’s important to make sure your people have some skin in the game.

Talk with the people who will be most impacted by this system, whether it’s employees whose work routine will change completely or people whose tasks will be taken over by devices and automation. Let them know what will change and how you plan on making the process easier for them. Listen to their worries and try to understand where they come from.

#3: Have a Clear Purpose

What are you trying to solve with this implementation? What are the metrics you want to improve? What problems bother you with the current system?
All these questions help organizations build a unique and clear purpose for their digital transformation. You may be looking to improve internal processes’ efficiency, integrate digital marketing campaigns with the rest of the business, or make sure the competition doesn’t go too far ahead. All these are amazing goals to define.

#4: Prepare for What’s Next

It may be wishful thinking to start thinking about the next phase when you haven’t even started, but it does help to have a bit of vision. When you think a few moves ahead, you learn that digital adoption is not over once the implementation is complete.

In fact, that’s when the difficult part starts. Now that you have a state-of-the-art, new and performant system, it’s time to get your people used to it. Training sessions and various stages of education may be needed to get users to understand the importance of introducing accurate data and following all the steps required by the system.

People have a tendency to “get creative” and will find ways to overcome the system to get the job done faster or “how it was before”. When this happens, you will be working with inaccurate and corrupt data, which will skew results and provide false insight.

To Wrap up

Tools and people need to work together for successful digital adoption – there is no way around this. However, when you take the time to ask employees for their opinion and take their worries into consideration, it becomes easier to find the right tools and work together on improving the quality of work and results.

Author: Richard has an established career as a technology consultant, helping business owners and CTOs harness new technologies for their business. He regularly writes and muses about emerging technology.

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