Technology adoption is the successful integration of new technology into a company and is central to a company’s digital transformation journey. Access to new technology is only the first step, and the full potential of this technology cannot be realized without its full adoption. Employee resistance to change is a significant barrier to technology adoption, negatively impacting a company’s ROI. This article discusses six obstacles to new technology adoption by 2023 and strategies to encourage adoption. Understanding these challenges can help organizations successfully plan and implement digital transformation.
Obstacles to new technology adoption, Obstacles to new technology adoption, Obstacles to new technology adoption
Understanding Technology Adoption
It is essential to distinguish between acquisition and adoption. In the most basic sense, technology adoption can be defined as the successful integration of new technology into a business. While access to new technology is essential, considering acquisition as the first step in the digital transformation journey is helpful. Companies may acquire new technology but not fully absorb it into the organization and realize its full potential. Once adopted, companies will unlock the technology’s full potential and maximize the value of their investment. But some companies find it obstacles to new technology adoption, slowly or worse, not at all.
According to WalkMe’s annual digital adoption report, 6 in 10 IT leaders are concerned that end users are not quickly adopting new technology. If adoption is delayed, return on investment is at risk. Depending on the company, many factors can be behind the slow adoption of technology, but one of the most important is employee resistance to change. It is important to anticipate this problem and develop a proactive plan to overcome these obstacles. But first, let’s see what factors cause this resistance.
Top 6 obstacles to new technology adoption in 2023
While digital transformation offers organizations unique opportunities for innovation and growth, it also requires critical thinking and perhaps rethinking what is essential to your business. Here are the top 6 obstacles to new technology adoption plans in 2023:
1. Lack of Change Management Strategy
Organizations with a comprehensive change management strategy are six times more likely to meet or exceed their digital transformation goals. A solid change management culture is critical to any organization’s success. A lack of strategic change can derail any new project or implementation plan. An effective change management strategy involves planning projects by identifying the root causes of problems and building relationships with all stakeholders and employees.
2. Lack of a Digital Transformation Strategy
Why are you replacing legacy systems and manual processes with new digital systems? Does your organization plan (or need) to implement sophisticated and complex systems? Ready to successfully migrate your existing system to a new system?
These questions must be answered before implementing a digital transformation process. There can be no successful change plan without a pre-defined strategy. Don’t sell on false assumptions and hype. Find out where your organization can improve and what business areas need innovation and build from there.
3. Lack of Proper IT Skills
To succeed in your transformation efforts, you need a dedicated, high-performing IT team. This is difficult to collect, especially now that there is a shortage of skilled workers. According to a business study, 54% of organizations cannot achieve their digital transformation goals due to a lack of qualified employees.
Organizations ‘ obstacles to adopting new technology include a lack of cybersecurity skills, application architecture, software integration, data analytics, and data migration. Organizations without IT professionals can meet this challenge by outsourcing this work to external consultants and digital transformation experts to help bridge the implementation and transition gaps.
However, for organizations embracing digital transformation, it is essential to establish an in-house team or have a digital transformation leader within the organization’s IT team to build and manage a strategic IT initiative.
4. Security Concerns
Privacy and cyber security concerns are a stumbling block for many corporate organizations in data-sensitive industries. This is true. Most digital transformation efforts involve moving away from on-premises solutions in favor of the cloud and consolidating all company data into a centralized system.
Naturally, this highlights the growing threat of cyber-attacks that steal consumer data and corporate secrets. Cyber-attacks can target system vulnerabilities, misconfigurations and unsuspecting users. Make sure you plan to mitigate these risks before they happen proactively. Hire a cybersecurity expert to help identify weaknesses in your defenses and provide cybersecurity training to your employees.
5. Budget Constraints
Digital transformation is not an economic investment. In organizations with sophisticated change strategies, the scope may slowly push deadlines and add new tasks, which can increase project costs. The addition of consulting work, changing client needs, IT disruptions, and digital transformation will continue to grow prices.
Know your long-term goals and what return on investment you want from the change process. This will give you an idea of what is expensive and how much room you have to stretch your budget.
6. Culture Mindset
Organizations with legacy systems and manual processes are often outdated. Things are changing slowly, automation is phasing out, and new technologies are hard to adopt. One of the biggest challenges of digital transformation is culture. Everyone, from leadership to new hires, must be on the same page. Everyone should be ready to make significant changes in their daily life and not be afraid to learn new things.
Strategies to Facilitate Technology Adoption
1. Set your Vision
It’s important to show employees the big picture: explain how new technologies will benefit them and the company in the future. Sharing the vision and goals will allow your employees to understand how the change will make their jobs easier. Adopting will undoubtedly be low if employees don’t see a compelling reason to use the new system. Help them understand the tool, what it does, and why they chose it. Identify your employees’ concerns and help them understand the reasons for change and the benefits of new technology. Knowing the purpose and achieving the vision facilitates onboarding and adoption.
2. Celebrate Success
The change shocked many. As mentioned earlier, adopting new technology is often accompanied by adverse reactions, such as fear of the unknown, shock at the difficulty of the new system, and the general pain of learning new processes. As a leader, it is essential that you effectively empower your employees using new technology. Celebrate successes, no matter how small, and draw attention to new technology’s positive impact on your business. Victory will create confidence and ease of adoption of new technology.
Obstacles to new technology adoption, Obstacles to new technology adoption, Obstacles to new technology adoption
3. Use Incentives
Offering incentives such as cash or vacations can create interest and help employees feel comfortable using the new system. Incentives make people want to use a new technology until it becomes a habit. According to McKinsey & Company, financial incentives are among executives’ best tools to motivate employees to develop digital transformation initiatives.
Their research found that companies implementing financial incentives directly linked to change outcomes were “about five times higher in shareholder return (TSR)” than companies without similar programs… Encouraging more positive experiences of motivation can go a long way toward overcoming negative emotions associated with change.
Employees resist new technology for various reasons, and understanding these factors is critical to successful adoption. Consider using the strategies described in this blog to overcome employee resistance and adopt technology in your organization.
Conclusion
Finally, technology adoption integrates new technology into the business and is vital to a company’s digital transformation journey. However, adoption can be hindered by several challenges, including digital transformation and change management strategies, inadequate IT skills, security concerns, budget constraints, and a resistant mindset.
Organizations can set a clear vision to facilitate technology adoption, provide appropriate training and support, involve employees in the process, and celebrate success. Successful technology adoption unlocks the full potential of technology investments and increases productivity, innovation, and growth. Achieving a successful digital transformation requires organizations to be aware of the challenges of technology adoption and develop proactive plans to overcome them.
