Is Digital Transformation a Huge Waste of Your Company’s Resources?

Gartner, PwC, and other research powerhouses have promoted the promise of digital transformation for years now.

Perform a quick online search and you’ll pull up thousands of articles on how digital solutions can improve processes, increase efficiency, and open the door to new business opportunities.

All this talk of modern systems is working — across the globe, companies are investing valuable resources in the name of innovation. To that end, almost $400 billion was spent on software in 2018 alone.

What you may not have heard is that seven in 10 companies that create digital transformation strategies do not meet their intended goals.

That amounts to $900 million in failed attempts. Companies are hitting a wall when it comes to digital transformation. Unless your business can figure out how to change employee mindsets and processes along with systems and applications, you will be facing a similar fate.

Huge waste or big win?

Successful digital transformation strategy requires a new approach, beginning with a mindset that welcomes change. The desire to modernize systems and processes for greater productivity is necessary for motivating staff.

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Adopting new tech and tools isn’t a plug-and-play proposition. Employees can quickly become overwhelmed and

frustrated with the onslaught of new technologies. Without proper training, many resort to unsanctioned workarounds, never fully embracing the potential of new systems to make their jobs easier or to improve the company’s ability to succeed.

Approaching your digital transformation without the right mindset, planning, and training will become a waste of resources. More than 50% of CIOs said they are dedicating people and time to deliver innovation, according to a recent global survey by KPMG. How can these CIOs be sure their investments will lead to a win? Building in the right strategies and tools is a great start, but it won’t ensure success.

The human factor

Assuming modern systems will be incorporated intuitively by employees is a costly mistake. It’s simply not enough to invest in new digital tools if you fail to provide effective training for the people who will be using them.

Having a vision for your company’s digital transformation is great, but you’ll need a strong digital strategy in order to execute on that vision. As a business leader, you must remember that it’s your employees and customers who will be using these new tools, and they are the ones who should benefit.

Digital adoption — when users can use your new digital tools as they’re intended and to the fullest extent — that’s when you’ll reap the true benefits and achieve a ROI.

It’s up to you to help them understand how digital solutions can improve their daily tasks. In the past, staff training was a lengthy process. But today’s digital systems move much faster, and outdated training procedures simply won’t cut it for current technologies.

Without a modern plan for training and onboarding new technology — one that empowers users to learn as they work — user adoption and competency can suffer.

Change in the name of progress

Almost half of the 4,500 CIOs who participated in the global 2017 KPMG CIO survey cited resistance to change as the

top impediment to a successful digital strategy. The answer, then, may lie in driving effective, top-down change management. Here are three ways your organization can avoid wasting resources and complete a successful digital transformation.

1. Create your digital strategy

Before putting new tech in place, create a seamless strategy that ensures a smooth adoption process. Look for a solution that empowers users to integrate new technology into daily tasks and provides ongoing support throughout the adoption process.

When employees have the support they need to become proficient quickly, they are able to add value and increase productivity. The longer it takes employees to get up to speed, the more frustrated they become. That frustration leads to employees avoiding the new tech, becoming disengaged and disrupting efficiencies. Digital tools that aren’t used as they are intended or to their full extent end up costing you money and threatening the overall success of the initiative.

2. Align on expectations

Lack of alignment between departments and teams can derail an organization’s digital transformation success. The IT department might see the digital transformation as a way to drive operational efficiencies while the marketing department may be solely focused on using new technology to boost customer engagement. Bringing teams together for a clear understanding of company-wide goals is critical.

Discover how WalkMe’s Digital Adoption Platform (DAP) simplifies digital transformation. Request a demo.

3. Integrate training with daily use of new software and tools

Traditional training methods simply aren’t effective for modern tools and software. Outdated video tutorials and training manuals force users to switch back and forth, causing more confusion than clarification. These training methods may plant the seed for learning, but they are inadequate when it comes to long-term knowledge retention.

Instead of investing in learning models that require employees to spend time in the classroom instead of doing their work, digital solutions that enable contextual learning are the superior choice.

Powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning, training software that uses contextual cues proactively deploys real-time support to guide users through any task or process at the moment of need, regardless of their prior experience on the platform. With this type of training solution, the forgetting curve is effectively eliminated.

Don’t waste your resources — create a solid digital transformation strategy and succeed

Change in the name of progress requires a sound digital transformation strategy. Empower employees to take advantage of real-time, continuous training and they’ll become competent users of digital systems.

Enable them to integrate the use of new tools and processes into their daily tasks, and they’ll keep pace with the speed of innovation and transformation. Want to see productivity rise? Incorporate ongoing training. Not only will you realize a faster ROI, but you’ll be better positioned to compete in an ever-evolving digital landscape.

Learn more about how you can ensure a successful digital transformation in our e-book, Taming the Digital Beast: New Strategies That Enable the CIO to Maximize the Benefits of Digital Transformation.