Why software adoption is critical to the digital employee experience

Digital transformation initially focused on gaining a competitive advantage over slower digital adopters.

But the world of work has evolved rapidly in recent years and has become a non-negotiable imperative. As more roles involve the use of software, and with employees often working across different applications, effective software adoption underpins the digital employee experience.

It's about helping your employees adopt, use and optimize new tools and technologies. Digital adoption success is measured by the effectiveness and quality of results achieved after an organization adopts digital platforms. When technology is easy to use, employees can work smarter and have a better work experience.

Digital transformation is more than just a technical topic; it's an employee experience issue.

What is Digital Employee Experience?

The digital employee experience is how employees interact with the technical tools involved in their daily roles and responsibilities and how these tools make them more engaged and productive.

The digital employee experience is paramount in today's rapidly changing work environment, and new technologies are being rolled out, refined, and adapted at a rapid pace. Software (or digital) adoption helps employees accept, adopt and complement their digital tools at work.

Poor software adoption is a major challenge for many modern businesses and can prevent them from achieving their digital transformation goals. This invariably hinders a happy and healthy digital experience for employees. This can negatively impact employee engagement, morale, and a company's productivity, sales, and bottom line.

Digital Adoption Challenge

As the world of work evolves and automation replaces “traditional” jobs, new, fully digital-focused roles are emerging faster. You must be prepared to fulfill these roles and maintain a competitive advantage.

Start by giving your employees the skills and confidence to embrace digital tools. This is an uphill battle for many companies.

Userlane's State of Digital Adoption study highlights the pervasiveness of poor digital adoption and the digital employee experience. Two surveys were commissioned in early 2022. The first surveyed 250 senior decision makers at companies with 250 to 5,000+ employees across various industries. The second surveyed 1,000 employees from organizations of a similar size.

Both surveys revealed that while employees and managers recognize the importance of strong digital adoption to their success, employees struggle to use new software. Almost all (96%) organizations struggled with poor digital adoption, and only a third (37%) rated the adoption as “excellent.” This shows that companies are not getting the best returns and are actually wasting time and money in their software adoption efforts.

How digital adoption is shaping the digital employee experience

Software adoption is fundamental to the digital employee experience. The Userlane study further revealed that 81% of employees use the software at work every day, while all use it at least once a week.

In addition, nine in ten employees (88%) agree that a frustration-free software process is key to their job satisfaction and productivity. Obviously, this is an important aspect of employee engagement and retention, especially in light of the so-called "big quit".

However, nearly half (44%) of employees said using software was time-consuming and difficult, and a quarter (23%) said it involved too many complex processes. Forty-four percent have postponed important tasks due to software issues, a fifth (18%) are looking for ways to do them manually, and one in ten (10%) flatly refuses to continue using them.

What's most worrisome for employers? About a tenth (8%) of respondents admit that they have even considered quitting their job due to software issues. This is the epitome of a poor digital employee experience. Software should make employees' working lives easier and more enjoyable, not cause them to leave their jobs because of frustration and bad experiences.

Labour shortages and ever-increasing competition lead to desperate uphill battles to recruit top talent. Employees are now more aware of their market value as a hard-to-replace and dwindling resource. And one...