Early efforts at digital transformation centered on acquiring an edge over later adopters of the technology. However, the nature of employment has changed quickly in recent years and has become an unavoidable need. Effective software adoption supports the digital employee experience since more positions entail using software, and employees frequently use many applications. It involves assisting your workforce in embracing, utilizing, and maximizing new tools and technologies. The effectiveness and caliber of the outcomes obtained once an organization employs digital platforms serve as a barometer for the success of digital adoption. Employees may work more efficiently and have a better working experience when technology is simple to use.

In today’s rapidly evolving workplace, where digital employee experience is crucial, new technologies are being quickly implemented, improved upon, and adapted. Employees are assisted in accepting, integrating, and utilizing their digital tools at work through software (or digital) adoption. Poor software adoption presents a significant obstacle for many contemporary firms and might keep them from achieving their goals for digital transformation. It always makes it more difficult for digital employees to be content and healthy. This could have a detrimental effect on a company’s productivity, sales, and bottom line, as well as staff morale and engagement.

How Software Adoption Shapes the Digital Employee Experience 

Software Adoption
Source: Design Center, INC

The digital employee experience is fundamentally dependent on software uptake. Further Userlane study revealed that while everyone uses the software at least once a week, 81% of employees use it daily at work. Additionally, eighty-eight percent (88%) of workers concur that their job happiness and productivity are directly related to how easily they can use the software. This is undoubtedly a crucial component of employee engagement and retention, particularly in light of the alleged “Great Resignation.” Dogfights for the best talent are becoming increasingly desperate as a result of labor shortages and rising competitiveness. Employees are increasingly more conscious of their marketability as a limited and difficult-to-replace resource. Additionally, their perspectives and opportunities have greatly extended as remote employment has become the norm.

Your entire organizational culture is reflected in the digital experience you provide for your employees. Making employees put up with a subpar digital experience suggests a general lack of concern in giving them a suitable, effective, and enjoyable working environment. Keep in mind that your rivals won’t give up. If you don’t enhance your software implementation procedure, eventually, your staff will defect to your rivals who have superior products.

You must also take into account how a lack of digital adoption would affect employee productivity in addition to employee satisfaction. With millions of work hours potentially lost globally, one in three employees (36%) admit they lose at least an hour every week troubleshooting software-related issues. Employers must make every employee as productive as they can be given the growing labor shortages and potential recruitment obstacles.

Challenge of Software Training

Implementing software successfully is more of an exception than a norm. Many firms continue to use an archaic, “one size fits all” method of learning and development that doesn’t address the variety of needs of contemporary workers. Scaled assistance and training are likewise more challenging with hybrid and remote work. Each training technique has benefits and drawbacks. For instance, face-to-face instructor-led lessons can be swiftly produced, easily revised, and carried out. However, setting up such meetings requires coordination, incurs travel costs, and has an impact on the caliber of the presentation and reception.

Although there are no travel costs involved, online group training does not have the same impact as in-person training. Teleconferencing, on the other hand, can be used for big groups in numerous locations but can be expensive in terms of equipment.

On-the-job training, which is once more done face-to-face, can effectively transfer knowledge that is pertinent to the learner’s job. The low trainee-to-trainer ratio and different teacher abilities, however, can increase costs.

Designing a software training strategy that is the ideal blend of several possibilities while being affordable and scalable is the largest problem for enterprises.

The Difficulty of Embracing Digital Technology

As the workplace changes and automation takes over “conventional” jobs, the emergence of new, entirely digital roles accelerates. In order to fulfill these roles and keep your competitive edge, you must be prepared. Start by giving your staff the knowledge and assurance they need to utilize digital tools. For many businesses, this is an uphill battle.

The prevalence of subpar digital adoption and employee experience is highlighted by Userlane’s State of Digital Adoption research. Early in 2022, two surveys were ordered. The first polled 250 senior decision-makers from various industries working for businesses with between 250 and 5,000 workers. The second polled 1,000 workers from businesses of comparable size.

Both studies revealed that although managers and employees agree that a strong digital adoption is critical to their success, employees have difficulty learning new applications. Only a third of the firms (37%) assessed their digital adoption as “good,” and nearly all (96%) struggled with it. This demonstrates that companies aren’t getting the optimum returns on their software adoption efforts and are really wasting time and money.

Who is in Charge of the digital employee experience?

There is no agreement on who within the company should be in charge of ensuring a seamless and effective software adoption process and the digital employee experience.

Compared to a third (37%) who say employees and a quarter (26%) who suggest HR teams for the position, more than half (53%) of business leaders believe the IT team should be at the forefront of digital adoption. The change endeavor is frequently hampered by this ambiguous viewpoint. There is a significant chance that no one will accept the assignment or finish it successfully.

Moreover, unclear duties impose excessive strain on already overworked IT workers. The IT division or outsourced supplier guarantees the availability and proper operation of the applications. They shouldn’t be burdened with an additional duty to supply the proper products or explain how to utilize them. The procedure should be cooperative amongst departmental team leaders, HR leaders, IT leaders, and staff members.

Conclusion 

How well employees embrace office software is closely related to their digital employee experience. This is crucial for businesses to achieve the most return on their investments as well as for employee engagement and retention in a candidate-driven labor market with a critical lack of qualified candidates.

Everyone is a stakeholder when it comes to enhancing the digital employee experience and lowering employee turnover. To know more about it, connect with SaaSworthy.

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