In the past few years, companies have been met with unforeseen challenges and have had to manage disruptions in their journey toward a more digital approach to business. Projections show that the digital transformation market is expected to grow to more than $1 trillion in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.5% between 2020-2025. With this comes a drastic increase in the number of digital applications used by these companies—with no signs of slowing down any time soon.
The problem is that companies aren’t fully using these applications and, therefore, wasting investment in technologies they don’t know how to use or those they don’t really need. Some may think that this is due to a lack of proper onboarding or technical training, but it’s more than that. This is where digital adoption comes in.
What is Digital Adoption?
Digital adoption is not just the implementation of new technologies into business; it’s a process in which users learn to leverage digital solutions to their fullest potential, maximizing the overall value they provide to the company. A mistake most organizations commit in the digital adoption process is focusing too much on the technology instead of the users. Digital adoption should be user-centric, focusing on the users as much as the technology itself. The goal isn’t just to implement new digital solutions; the implementation of these solutions should lead to increased productivity, optimized processes, and improved overall user experience.
There’s also the concern of improving the experience for both the employee and the customer. This is why most digital adoption programs fall under two main categories:
- Employee-facing digital adoption: The goal here is to ensure employee proficiency in the use of digital solutions through proper understanding and efficient use of the tools to optimize workflows and boost overall productivity.
- Customer-facing digital adoption: Customer-facing digital adoption focuses on driving user engagement and increasing customer satisfaction by effectively using customer-facing applications and digital solutions.
The Importance of Digital Adoption Today
Companies Today are realizing the value of digital transformation because it provides benefits for both their employees and customers. On the one hand, it boosts productivity and optimizes workflows; on the other, it helps retain customers and attract new ones by providing an enhanced customer experience through digital solutions. Even in emerging markets like India, digital growth is touted as a trillion-dollar economic opportunity.
The transition to a digital-first business model isn’t a simple one, however, and a digital adoption platform is crucial in ensuring that business disruption is minimized and the necessary tools and support are made available to all members of an organization. Successful digital transformation can only be achieved if an organization comprehensively understands its employees’ technical and cultural needs. All digital transformation is cultural and foundational; a digital adoption platform helps smoothen the transition by aligning perspectives on how taking the digital approach brings the business closer to its goals.
Below are some benefits of a digital adoption platform:
- Improved workflows and efficiency: Today, many software and digital tools can help improve business efficiency and optimize internal processes. These tools can automate repetitive tasks while also eliminating human error and providing real-time updates. Leveraging digital solutions will free up time so employees can focus on more strategic tasks.
- Higher employee and customer satisfaction: Employees who feel their jobs getting easier with the help of digital tools are motivated to work and feel empowered to do their best. This leads to greater job satisfaction, which encourages employees to contribute more to the organization. On the other hand, customers who find a product or service easy to use are more likely to become return customers and spread the word about their positive experience. Leading to more customers.
- Less user frustration: Employees who are overwhelmed with digital tools are often the ones who are struggling to use them. This can lead to the abandonment of new systems, severely hindering digital adoption efforts. Digital adoption platforms help educate these employees about the use and benefits of new systems and provide support where necessary, so they don’t fall behind. Understanding how new technologies integrate with current workflows and why some processes might need modifications will encourage continued engagement and minimize user frustration.
- Data-driven decision-making: From customer behavior to operational performance, digital tools provide businesses with large amounts of data that help give insights they wouldn’t have gained otherwise. With the help of data analytics platforms, these insights are valuable in strategic decision-making and help stakeholders make informed decisions that will benefit the organization in the long run.
From Digital Adoption to Digital Transformation
Digital transformation may be a challenge to Today’s businesses, but it doesn’t have to be a haphazard endeavor. A successful transition should be well planned with a clearly defined agenda and action items so that every member of the organization, including management, is on the same page. All digital transformation initiatives should start with a clear digital adoption plan, ensuring that all employees and stakeholders understand the changes to be implemented and the rationale behind each one.
Digital transformation efforts fail if implemented technologies aren’t adopted properly. Digital adoption platforms can mean the difference between successful digital transformation and a company struggling to justify the digitalization of its business model. Ultimately, it would help if you got buy-in from every member of the organization to ensure continuous engagement and commitment to the digital approach to achieve business goals.
