Digital culture in business, key to successful digital adoption
Introduction
At a time when digital technology evokes varied perceptions, sometimes optimistic, sometimes threatening, implementing new digital tools within corporate organizations is a perilous exercise. Leaders must contend with the apprehensions and motivations of their employees to ensure software is deployed to its full potential. Because simply acquiring CRM, ERP, PLM, and other tools is pointless without a comprehensive, shared vision. To benefit from a new digital environment, choosing the right software is crucial, but it would be nothing without establishing a digital culture within the company, to support the change. Integrating new tools, no matter how powerful, does not necessarily guarantee their successful adoption by your employees. Leading the change gradually, however, does. That's where embedding a corporate digital culture comes into play.
Digital culture: what are we talking about?
Digital culture encompasses various realities and is characterized by a set of behaviors and practices. If we were to define it, corporate digital culture is the integration of digital principles into the way we work, think, and organize ourselves. It is crucial to understand that digital transformation is not limited to purchasing new tools (CRM, SaaS solutions, ERP, PLM…), but rather to understanding the challenges it entails. When driven by a digital culture, the transition will occur without resistance and with the buy-in of all your employees. For this cultural change to be progressive and uniform, communication and training are key: at the outset of digital transformation, but also throughout software implementation. A lack of support or support ill-suited to the project and company culture will inevitably impact the value delivered by the project. But it's never too late to get it right and to accelerate employees' adoption of digital transformation.
More about people than tools
Relying solely on impersonal tools disconnected from actual use would mean missing out on a successful digital transformation: what's the point of a widely deployed system if users don't know how to or don't want to use it? Here, the destination matters less than the path chosen to get there. Uniting the entire organization around a bold and clear vision is essential to achieve your digital transformation goals. This approach demonstrates trust and consideration: the goal is not to impose a new way of doing things, but to co-create it, especially since the digital shift doesn't happen overnight. To achieve this, it is essential to involve all stakeholders in your approach, to communicate transparently and openly about the challenges of digitalization, and to provide them with the means to achieve common goals.
Employee buy-in: a crucial resource
Aversion to change is human, natural. Whether it involves new CRM tools, a ERP software or the adoption of a PLM, digital transformation always involves a change in habits and a collaborative effort between several departments. Both technical skills (hard skills) and human skills (soft skills) come into play: stepping out of their comfort zone, your employees will need to learn new practices, coordinate with other teams, and for some, rethink their approach to digital technology. The effort can be considerable, but it is far from insurmountable if supported. After communicating with users about the reasons for the change and its usefulness in addressing business challenges, the goal will be to transition to a continuous training approach. This will make tool adoption all the more effective.
High demand for digital tools
As early as 2021, 84% of companies with more than 20 employees were requesting support to facilitate the adoption of digital tools by their staff.
Source: "Growth & Digital Barometer" IPSOS
Analyze to better anticipate
Several performance indicators allow for measuring user activity on digital platforms. To monitor the progress and embedding of digital transformation within the company, this information must be viewed through the lens of actual tool usage, rather than solely the richness of their features. By studying the adoption of deployed tools, it will be possible to identify barriers to their use and understand the needs and expectations of teams to better support them. Communicate, train, measure; these are all necessary steps to gain employee buy-in and successfully implement a digital adoption strategy.
Enhance your tools with Knowmore
Do you already use software on which you want to train your employees? Our digital adoption platform K-NOW, also known as an application GPS, integrates directly with your tools and delivers short, personalized training modules in real time.
You can communicate with users and train them on processes and data entry directly within the interface, using step-by-step guides and contextual help. Tailored to each profile, you empower your users to progress autonomously 24/7. Improving the user experience leads to simplified onboarding, better tool adoption, standardization of business processes, and increased user engagement.