Does digital adoption feel like unending hurdles to you?In the race for digital transformation, companies are constantly looking to implement new software tools to win. But what if the software wasn’t the issue? Just like digital transformation, digital adoption goes far beyond the simple question of tools. And here’s the truth: it’s not a sprint race, it’s a long-distance one. Here’s how to approach your digital adoption issues in order to carry out your change management and take up the digital transformation challenge in the long run.
1. It’s not about software, it’s about culture
Digital transformation is not about changing a simple tool, it’s about creating a culture that fully integrates digital technology. As a matter of fact, it is indivisible from digital culture and software adoption. “Okay… But where does this take us?”
Digital culture is the new normal.
Like any other culture, digital culture is like a two-sided iceberg (Edward T. Hall): there is a visible part that you can see (the surface culture) and a hidden one that you can’t see (the deep culture). And here’s where it gets tricky. The obstacles (visible part of the iceberg) you face in digital adoption are related to deeper issues (hidden part of the iceberg). In concrete terms, your employees don’t use your tools because they don’t see their added value. To rise to the digital transformation challenge, you have to educate your employees about digital technology until it is an integral part of your corporate culture.
2. Your workforce is the key
If there is one thing to remember about digital adoption, it’s that it’s inherently dependent on your employees. And for good reason, many projects are struggling to see the light of day because of the obstacles that stand in the way of change management. You’re wondering what those barriers are?
38% of company directors reckon that their employees perceive change as a threat. (Source: Forbes Insight & PMI Survey)
The first obstacle to digital adoption is the perception of your users. How they perceive change, the added value of your software applications or the difficulty of use: all these elements condition their adoption. But that’s not the only obstacle. Your users are faced with countless tools. That means their level of technological knowledge and their software training have a fundamental impact on their software adoption (whether good or bad). So how can you overcome these obstacles?
User engagement: this is the cornerstone of digital adoption. If you want to engage your users, the first thing you need to do is understand their needs (business, performance, etc.). It is only when you have identified them that you’ll be able to meet them precisely and explain to your users how your tools will support them practically and durably in the change.
3. Digital Adoption: How to drive change in the long term
Digital adoption is a process. That means it must be supported at every step: from user needs to support and training. In this process, communication is key. According to the Project Management Institute, one in three projects fails due to ineffective communication. So here’s a fundamental point to remember: communication is to change management what engagement is to digital adoption, a must.
To carry out the change in the long term, you have to support it throughout the entire project. First things first: communicate with your teams. What are the reasons for change? Why is it useful for your team, especially in their business issues? Then comes training. This will help your employees appropriate their software tools and be efficient in their work. Last but not least, measure your ROI. This will help you adapt your change management to the needs and expectations of your teams. That being said, how do you do all of this without adding extra tools at work?
4. Train your employees directly from their software tools with Lemon Learning
What if instead of changing your software solutions, you trained your users directly from the ones they already have? No, you didn’t misread the previous sentence. Our digital adoption platform Lemon Learning empowers your teams and helps them go from simple users to agents of change!
Directly integrated into your software applications, our solution supports your users in real time and enables them to handle their software quickly. Your users get the right information at the right time. From their first use, they learn by doing thanks to short training modules (three minutes maximum) provided from their tools. The best thing? You can create tailor-made journeys and adapt them according to the needs of your teams with our personalization and statistics features! By being focused on the needs of your users, Lemon Learning enables you to anchor change in the long term and to operate a lasting digital transformation.
In a nutshell, digital adoption is more about users than it is about tools. Although software applications are essentials to work, they are above all at people’s service. Put another way, taking up the challenge of digital transformation won’t happen until you redesign the use of your software according to user experience.
