It is tough to admit but it’s a fact – despite living in a digital age we haven’t mastered the art of digital adoption. It’s true! As of January 2020, the global digital population share is 59 percent. Also, by the end of this year, nearly half of the world will own a smartphone. Yet, only three percent of all the digital adoption initiatives are entirely successful, says a McKinsey report.
A majority of businesses have failed to successfully achieve digital adoption. The primary reason for this is their lack of understanding of the subject and the inability to use it to maximize business outcomes. After all, merely having digital tools and apps isn’t enough. One should be able to leverage these digital assets to the fullest extent. That’s what digital adoption is all about – getting the maximum returns on your digital tools and assets.
COVID-19 has shaken up the work scenario! In a way, this pandemic had forced businesses to change the way they operate. With the world coming to a standstill, the home has become the new office. Telecommuting is the way of life! But are organizations ready for this change? Not completely! The sudden work-from-home mandate has shown how unprepared businesses are in this regard. Some lack the collaboration tools and others are struggling to meet the demands of their remote staff. That’s where digital adoption can help! These tools can ensure business continuity and uphold productivity.
What’s more? Digital adoption is proven to improve business outcomes and revenue. In a Gartner report, 56 percent of the global CEOs surveyed agreed that digital adoption boosts revenue growth.
Hence, digital adoption is a top priority for most businesses, not just to boost profits but also to thrive during the pandemic which has made WFH mandatory. Here’s how digital adoption is helping businesses adapt to the sudden shift to the remote-working lifestyle during the COVID-19 era.
Streamline Business Communications
Organizations around the world have implemented remote-working policies to quell disease transmission. However, to achieve business continuity, firms should strive hard to keep the lines of communication open. They should ensure that there’s a consistent flow of information to each of their employees. Digital adoption is helping businesses in this endeavor.
Digital tools such as enterprise social media platforms, emails, instant messengers, and virtual meeting tools are blurring the lines between the physical workplace and the place where employees are actually working from (their homes). These tools are being used effectively to break down the communication barriers and share knowledge, thereby fostering innovation and business growth.
Digital adoption can help businesses manage change smoothly. For instance, in most organizations employees may be averse to using new software. In such a case, a digital adoption platform can help build a culture of sharing information and ongoing training, thus ensuring that the users are at ease when using the new tools.
Improve Work Experience and Employee Engagement
Digital adoption is not only bridging the gap between employees and organizations but also allowing businesses to boost employee engagement and improve their work experience. During the global pandemic, businesses are increasingly relying on enterprise social media channels, emails, instant messaging, and virtual meeting tools to engage their employees and help them adapt to the remote-working culture.
Digital adoption solutions also help new hires and existing employees easily learn about new software implementations and changes in business processes if any. All this keeps employees engaged, enabling them to contribute to the business objectives.
Monitor Employee Productivity
Remote working can make it tough for business leaders to gain visibility of their employees working from home. Staying aligned with the employees’ activity is a critical aspect of measuring business productivity.
Digital adoption can help businesses monitor employee productivity through user activity and organization-wide software usage. For instance, digital adoption platforms can offer a comprehensive view of the firm’s software activity, employee activity, and whether any employee or department needs more software training.
Encourage a Self-Service Culture
Though work-from-home or remote working isn’t a new concept, several businesses are deploying it for the first time. Business leaders are realizing that the WFH lifestyle requires the employees to have adequate knowledge of software applications used for their respective job functions. That’s where a DAP or Digital Adoption Platform comes into the picture. With DAP, employees can stay updated about the new software, through features, such as beacons, digital adoption widgets, and step-by-step walkthroughs.
For instance, if employees working from home aren’t shown the uses and benefits of new software, they may not use all of its features or may perceive it to be an additional burden. The same can happen with a customer-facing app. In such cases, DAP can help employees with the required knowledge and resources, allowing them to solve their issues by themselves. This will not only save time but also ease the burden from the IT team who are constantly managing support requests from employees.
Thus, DAP can boost remote-working experience without making employees feel remote.
Let’s consider the example of the digital adoption platform, WhatFix. The platform offers in-app digital guidance for better user adoption, user onboarding, digital transformation, and performance support. It helps businesses with onboarding for apps like Salesforce, Oracle, MS Dynamics, and others.
Ensures Effective Remote Onboarding
It’s hard to imagine but even during the pandemic, businesses are remotely hiring and onboarding people. Remote onboarding seems next to impossible in the absence of digital adoption platforms equipped with in-app guidance, step-by-step walkthroughs, and contextualized learning.
These platforms are quickly and seamlessly replacing the traditional onboarding process that involves face-to-face training and orientation. They simplify software training and the overall user workflow, thus creating a perfect learning experience for all.
Summing Up
Technology has always been the force amplifier! If your business is quick to adopt the latest digital technology and harness it to its best, you can get a serious edge over your competitors.
As workplace demographics continue to change in the current crisis situation, digital adoption will gain more significance in the business world. Work from home is here to stay! During this global pandemic (and beyond!) embracing digital adoption can help business leaders unify company-wide communication, ease onboarding and training, and ensure business continuity.
Hence, it’s wise to invest in the various digital adoption solutions, if you haven’t already. It will not only help you meet the diverse business needs but also give you a leg up on the competition.
