‘With so much at stake to build digital capabilities that drive customer centricity and productivity, why do so many companies fail? Research shows that 70% of digital transformations fall short of their objectives, often with profound consequences.’1
While much emphasis is often placed on selecting cutting-edge technologies, this statement underscores a critical, often underestimated truth: the success of digital transformation hinges on the adoption and effective use of applications and processes by employees. Without achieving this, inefficiencies in the digital workplace will impede productivity, delay expected benefits, and result in wasted resources. This blog looks at the merits of this assertion by exploring key aspects such as employee adoption, the risks of inadequate usage data, task mining as a diagnostic tool, and the strategic imperative of addressing employee experience.
Adoption and Use as the Cornerstone of Digital Transformation
The successful adoption and use of applications and processes by employees are pivotal for digital transformation. When employees fail to embrace the new technologies or processes, the entire initiative risks falling short of its objectives. This failure can occur for various reasons, including lack of training, insufficient communication of benefits, or poor alignment of technology with workflows. If employees do not integrate these tools into their daily tasks, the potential for improved efficiency, collaboration, and innovation is lost. If employees revert to outdated methods or legacy applications, or fail to understand how the system supports their work, the investment becomes a liability rather than an asset. In such cases, digital workplace inefficiencies are not merely a by-product of technological inadequacy but a direct result of underutilization.
Risks of Inadequate Usage Data
A significant barrier to successful digital transformation is the lack of visibility into actual employee usage of new technologies. As the statement highlights, this gap poses strategic and tactical risks to transformation projects. Without comprehensive insights into how employees interact with applications, organizations are left to make assumptions about the success of their initiatives. This lack of clarity can lead to several adverse outcomes:
- Wasted Investments: Organizations may continue paying for software licenses or maintaining tools that employees are not using, leading to significant financial waste. For example, studies show that up to 30% of enterprise software licenses go unused, representing millions of dollars in lost value.
- Delayed Productivity Gains: If employees are not using tools as intended, the productivity improvements and efficiency gains envisioned in the transformation strategy are postponed, undermining the initiative’s return on investment (ROI).
- Strategic Misalignment: Without accurate data, organizations may fail to identify misalignments between the tools deployed and the actual needs of employees, leading to ineffective workflows and frustration.
Addressing this challenge requires more than periodic surveys or feedback mechanisms. Organizations need real-time, granular data on how employees interact with applications to make informed decisions about optimizing their digital transformation efforts.
Task Mining: Unlocking Insights into Digital Workflows
Task mining is a critical enabler for understanding and optimizing employee workflows at scale. This technology provides visibility into how employees complete tasks by analyzing the sequence of application interactions that form the "Employee Journey." By capturing data on digital workflows, task mining offers actionable insights into the specific ways technology supports or hinders productivity.
For example, task mining can reveal that employees are frequently switching between multiple applications to complete a single task, indicating fragmented workflows. It may also uncover underutilized features within an application that could significantly improve efficiency if properly adopted. Armed with this information, transformation teams can:
- Identify bottlenecks and redundancies in workflows.
- Optimize processes to reduce employee effort and increase productivity.
- Target training and support initiatives to address specific areas of friction.
The ability to diagnose inefficiencies in digital workflows is particularly valuable in today’s distributed work environments, where employees operate across various locations and devices. Task mining provides the scalability and precision needed to understand these complex dynamics and ensure that digital tools empower, rather than hinder, the workforce.
Digital Employee Experience as a Strategic Imperative
Digital Employee Experience (DEX) is emerging as a critical factor in the success of digital transformation. DEX encompasses all aspects of how employees perceive and interact with their work environment, including the technology and processes they use. A positive employee experience not only drives adoption but also fosters engagement, innovation, and retention.
To address adoption-related friction, transformation teams need robust analytics capabilities that allow them to drill down into specific aspects of employee behavior. These capabilities enable organizations to answer vital questions such as:
- Are employees using applications as intended?
- Are there barriers to adoption, such as lack of training, poor user interface design, or misaligned workflows?
- How do different teams or roles vary in their use of technology?
By leveraging advanced analytics and filtering tools, organizations can isolate the root causes of adoption challenges and implement targeted interventions. For instance, if data reveals that a particular team is struggling to adopt a new tool, the organization can provide tailored training or modify the tool to better align with the team’s needs.
The Cost of Inaction
Failing to prioritize adoption and effective use of technology can have far-reaching consequences for organizations undergoing digital transformation. These include:
- Lower Employee Morale: Frustration with poorly integrated or difficult-to-use tools can lead to disengagement and decreased job satisfaction.
- Reduced Competitiveness: Organizations that fail to realize the full potential of their digital transformation efforts risk falling behind competitors who successfully leverage technology to drive innovation and efficiency.
- Financial Losses: As previously mentioned, the cost of unused software licenses and delayed productivity gains can erode the financial benefits of digital transformation initiatives.
Conclusion
The assertion that successful digital transformation hinges on the adoption and use of applications and processes is well-founded. It may be obvious, however, many organizations fail to get to grips with key aspects that ensure they are better able to make sure it happens. Without achieving this, organizations face inefficiencies that limit productivity, delay ROI, and squander resources. To address these challenges, transformation teams must gain visibility into employee usage patterns through tools like task mining, adopt a strategic focus on employee experience, and proactively address the complexities of dynamic digital workplace environments.
Ultimately, digital transformation is not just about deploying technology; it is about empowering people to work smarter, faster, and more effectively. By prioritizing adoption and aligning technology with employee needs, organizations can unlock the full potential of their digital transformation efforts and build a foundation for sustained success in the digital age.
Learn how Acumen can help transformation teams drive greater adoption and realize the benefits of transformation initiatives here.
