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State of Digital
Adoption report
2023
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Foreword
Welcome to Userlane’s 2023 State of Digital Adoption report.
This year we surveyed 250 business leaders and 250 employees at large organizations in the UK. We asked them about the challenges they face with digital adoption – the process of fully maximizing the value of new technologies.
We also asked business leaders and employees about their ambitions to improve digital transformation and how they assess their organizations ability to leverage new technologies to their full potential.
One thing is clear: most businesses recognize the importance of digital adoption, but only some have mastered it.
That’s where Userlane comes in. We help organizations fully understand how well they utilize the applications they are paying for and provide tools to improve software adoption and usage. In short: We help reduce friction and complexity and make software simple.
The results? Higher productivity, happier users, and less cost for underutilized software.
Interested in how well enterprises are currently doing with Digital Adoption?
Let’s jump into this year’s insights!
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Executive summary
Here’s a snapshot of the main findings
Software usage soars
53% of employees are using more software now than this time last year.
Sizing up digital transformation
Against a backdrop of economic and business uncertainty, enterprises are steadfast in their pursuit of digital transformation. In fact, almost two-thirds (62%) increased their digital transformation budget over the last twelve months, and a similar number (60%) say they will continue this through the year ahead.
38% of businesses will increase their budgets by up to 20% in 2024, with an average planned increase of 8%.
This is likely due to digital transformation being viewed by many as future-proofing that enables businesses to withstand tomorrow’s economic and business challenges. While it may entail significant up-front investment, the benefits in the long run are considerable.
On the other hand, businesses will pay a heavy price if they fail to get it right. Not only will they lose money, but they will be left exposed to the issues brought about by an uncertain economic environment.
Poor planning and preparation
Bringing everything together
Resistance to change
85% of businesses say that improving digital adoption is
a key element of their
business strategy.
Digital adoption drives the boardroom agenda
96% of businesses reported challenges stemming from poor digital adoption – the same as last year’s figure.
Digital adoption is still a major challenge
60% will increase digital transformation budgets in the next 12 months.
Digital budgets
are on the up
IT teams are most often responsible for digital adoption (52%), digital transformation (52%), and digital skills development (48%).
IT needs to prove impact and deliver results
The average enterprise spent £1,786,036 on new software investments in the last year, but 91% have had a digital transformation project
completely fail.
Failure comes at
a hefty price
96% of businesses measure
their digital transformation initiatives, but they do it in a lot of different ways.
There is no single method to track task success
Most employees say using software without frustration or difficulty is important to their productivity (75%) and happiness (68%) at work.
Seamless software experiences matter
The average employee loses 2.33 hours per week due to software-related challenges, adding up to hundreds of thousands of hours wasted across the year.
Lost time adds up
62% of businesses said
that introducing a Digital Adoption Platform (DAP) has been effective.
The DAP difference
We found that the top three most common reasons, with 22% each, are:
Not enough thought or understanding put into the project.
Unwillingness to accept new technology or processes.
Having trouble making the new system work with existing systems or processes.
38% of businesses will increase their budgets by up to 20% in 2024
with an average planned increase of 8%
96% of businesses have experienced challenges resulting from poor digital adoption.
This is evident in the five most common issues caused by poor digital adoption:
Understanding
adoption challenges
96% of businesses have experienced challenges resulting from poor digital adoption.
However, digital adoption challenges may look different from one organization to another. What makes them especially tricky is that their impacts are wide-ranging, with the potential to affect productivity and cost-efficiency across many different business functions, from IT and finance to HR and learning and development (L&D).
Increased IT support queries
Higher
training costs
Higher costs of maintaining old/outdated technologies
Poor ROI or value from technology purchases
Resistance from employees towards adopting new technologies
32%
31%
27%
26%
25%
Poor digital adoption also makes it harder for businesses to develop digital skills within their workforces. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of business leaders admit their organization faces a digital skills gap, while only 17% are truly confident that they have the digital skills to succeed.
Developing digital skills becomes even more crucial as a future-proofing mechanism, particularly in the context of a tight labor market and a highly competitive business environment. In an era where technological advancements drive industry shifts, businesses that prioritize digital skills development position themselves to attract top talent, remain adaptable to evolving market demands, and gain a competitive edge.
Promisingly, nearly all (89%) employees are motivated to develop digital skills – but they can only do this to full effect when properly empowered to adopt new technology.
The top motivations for developing digital skills are:
It's one thing to examine the challenges identified by business leaders. But it’s also vital to consider employees’ point of view, especially as almost all (90%) employees have encountered frustrating software experiences.
During digital transformation, employers have a responsibility to support their employees at each stage. It’s a cyclical relationship – a lack of support leads to poor adoption, which in turn causes employees to resist further change.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, three-quarters of employees say using software without difficulty is important to their productivity. When employees struggle with technology, time is lost – and a lot of it!
The average employee spends 2.33 hours a week
tackling software-related issues – for a company of 5,000 employees, that’s approximately 605,800 hours lost
every year!
A similar number of employees (68%) say using software without difficulty is important to their workplace wellbeing. A quarter say they feel overwhelmed or stressed when things go wrong. Any business that is keen to maximize employee motivation, engagement and retention should be aiming to reduce that number to zero.
Hartmut Hahn
CEO, Userlane
Higher training costs
Higher costs of maintaining
old/outdated technologies
Poor ROI or value from
technology purchases
Resistance from employees towards
adopting new technologies
Increased IT support queries
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32%
31%
27%
26%
25%
Despite a bullish outlook, most business leaders (56%) see their software investments as only “somewhat effective”, meaning results are satisfactory, but there is need for improvement.
In a separate piece of research, we found that only 45% of these investments actually meet or exceed their expected return on investment (ROI).
And more often than you may think, software investments fall completely short of expectations. A massive 91% of business leaders say at least one of their investments has failed outright.
Achieving digital transformation is complex and requires multiple people, technologies and processes to align with each other. This means that there are often several factors that cause digital transformation to fail.
Not enough thought or understanding put into the project.
Poor planning
and preparation
Unwillingness to
accept new technology
or processes.
Resistance
to change
Having trouble making the new system work with existing systems or processes.
Bringing everything together
Increasing productivity and efficiency
Keeping up with tech advancements
Improving job
security
Increasing overall
digital literacy
Career advancement and professional growth
Data analysis and interpretation
Using AI
Knowledge of online learning platforms
Critical thinking and decision-making in a digital context
Adaptability to new software and technologies
The most desired digital skills amongst employees are:
96% of businesses
have experienced challenges resulting from poor digital adoption.
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Boosting digital
adoption in enterprise
Unfortunately, it is not a quick fix.
Almost all (94%) of businesses say they are facing obstacles to better digital adoption, highlighting a lack of time and resources for training (28%), integrating tech into existing systems (26%), and sourcing talent with digital skills (25%) as especially troublesome.
This shows that challenges associated with digital adoption are universal and not limited to any one industry or business department. What’s more, it’s clear from this that digital adoption can’t be “completed” – it’s a continuous process.
Digital adoption strategies – how effective are they?
The hidden toll: the business costs and consequences of poor digital adoption
96%
The average UK enterprise
spent £1,786,035.82
on new software investments last year.
Digital adoption is the ability of employees to use new technology to their full potential. In other words, without strong digital adoption, digital transformation efforts often fall short.
Although 85% say they have a clear plan in place to improve digital adoption, very few have mastered it.
Digital friction: the impact on employee experience and productivity
Reporting the issue to the
software provider or helpdesk
Spending extra time trying to troubleshoot or fix the issue
Feeling overwhelmed or stressed
Abandoning the task or
postpone it for later
Seeking help or support from colleagues or IT support
32%
31%
27%
25%
24%
The top five most common responses to a frustrating software experience are:
A sizable number of employees feel their business could be doing more. Just over a third (35%) are left disappointed by the level of IT help they receive when addressing software challenges, while a similar number (38%) wish they had more access to training and skills development opportunities.
But as we will see in the next section, increasing IT support desk capacity and training sessions may not be the best answer to employees’ technology woes.
The average employee spends 2.33 hours a week tackling software-related issues
– for a company of 5,000 employees, that’s approximately 605,800 hours lost every year!
1. Communication
Many businesses (73%) prioritize communicating the benefits of technology to their employees. While only 62% of employees feel their business clearly communicates plans for digital change.
Employees not only need to know that the software is worth using, but also that it’s going to be simple to use and that they will be fully supported to maximize its value.
To maximize employee adoption of new software – and minimize disruption to their work – businesses need to implement tech changes carefully. Many (71%) are already taking this step and have implemented a change management strategy to encourage a culture of understanding and acceptance.
As we explore below, training is usually a big part of this – but it isn’t always done in the most practical or cost-effective way.
2. Change management
A similar number of businesses (70%) have increased the capacity of their IT desks to support employees in adopting new software. This doesn’t address the root cause of poor digital adoption, however, which is that employees struggle to learn how to use software by themselves.
Taking this approach runs the risk of increasing IT costs, without any positive productivity outcomes.
3. IT support
Businesses are reevaluating their approach to software training, moving away from a costly, logistically challenging, and ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach which prioritizes classroom-based learning, towards diversifying their training options to accommodate individual preferences.
The current most popular training methods have some major drawbacks: workshops and peer-to-peer learning are expensive and difficult to scale up across a large enterprise. Not to mention the fact that knowledge learned in these sessions is easily forgotten.
Nevertheless, it is encouraging to see change. A number of the training methods businesses will offer in the future lend themselves to embedded, interactive experiences which enable employees to access self-guided learning on-demand.
4. Software training
The most offered types of software training:
Peer-to-peer learning
or knowledge sharing
Interactive virtual training sessions
Simulations or virtual environments
Gamified learning experiences
Poor planning and preparation
Bringing everything together
Resistance to change
The types of software training most likely to be offered in future:
One key factor that threatens to disrupt traditional technology adoption strategies is the pace of change.
As businesses continue to rapidly digitize their operations, new software products are being introduced into the workplace at even greater frequencies than ever before. These technologies are intended to aid employees with both their daily routines and their more complex, role-specific tasks.
53% report that their use of software has increased over the last year, and 56% say it has risen consistently over the last five years.
This means that it’s becoming incredibly costly and difficult to rely on tech support as a remedy for poor adoption. Despite this, most (52%) business leaders continue to place the responsibility on the IT department.
The rise of hybrid and remote working arrangements has introduced more obstacles. Half (51%) of employees agree that their new working arrangements make it more important for them to be able to address software-related challenges by themselves, without relying on help from the IT team or other colleagues.
With all this in mind, it’s worth considering the long-term feasibility of more traditional digital adoption tactics. Is it really practical to provide comprehensive communication, formal training sessions, and dedicated IT support every time a new piece of technology is implemented?
In many cases, digital adoption will require input from all areas of the business. Executive leadership could provide the vision. Team leaders might assist in managing the change. IT teams could handle the implementation of the technology. HR and L&D teams might coordinate training.
But regardless of which stakeholders are involved in the digital adoption process, it could all fall apart if employees don’t feel empowered.
53% report that their use of software has increased over the last year, and 56% say it has risen consistently over the last five years.
Keeping up with the pace of digital change
62%
59%
59%
Online self-paced
courses or tutorials
Hands-on workshops
or practical exercises
Interactive virtual
training sessions
Simulations or
virtual environments
Gamified learning
experiences
42%
42%
40%
A Digital Adoption Platform (DAP), like the one offered by Userlane, empowers employees to use any software application by guiding them through processes in real-time and offering on-demand support directly within applications.
Awareness of DAPs has grown substantially over the last few years, and the majority of the businesses that have implemented one are touting its positive impact.
It’s worth taking a closer look at the benefits of DAPs in driving digital adoption compared to the more traditional methods we’ve discussed so far:
Empowering employees with Digital Adoption Platforms
DAPs provide a more scalable approach compared to traditional software training sessions. Instead of conducting individual or group training sessions, which can be time-consuming and costly, DAPs offer on-demand, self-paced learning experiences.
Scalability:
DAPs offer a cost-effective solution for technology adoption, helping organizations not only save on training expenses, but also reduce the need for IT support.
Cost efficiency:
DAPs foster self-sufficiency amongst employees and promote continuous, embedded learning through a “learn while doing” model. By reducing reliance on IT support, trainers, or colleagues, employees are encouraged to tackle software challenges independently.
Continuous, embedded learning:
Nearly all (96%) businesses measure the impact of their digital transformation projects, but their methods vary considerably, meaning that what looks like success in one organization may be completely different from another.
The most common ways that businesses measure success are:
Tracking specific goals and targets, such as increased efficiency, cost savings, or revenue growth
Measuring improvements in employee productivity
Evaluating how well the new system works with existing systems and processes
26%
24%
22%
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Putting measurement at
the HEART of digital adoption
These are all valid, but wouldn’t it be more impactful to have a single source of truth? A data-driven, standardized framework that gives business leaders a complete view into digital adoption across hundreds of software applications?
At Userlane, we created just that: introducing HEART.
Userlane's HEART score can be an instrumental tool for enterprises in assessing the digital adoption levels and ROI of different applications, and providing actionable insights into how to make improvements.
Built into our Digital Adoption Platform, our HEART analytics enable you to measure the success of digital transformation initiatives across your organization by tracking user behavior across software applications.
It collects data on five key digital adoption factors to help you understand and improve digital adoption:
Happiness of employees: Measure employee sentiment across all applications and gather real user feedback to identify and resolve points of frustration.
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Conclusion
Our report highlights a wide variety of challenges faced in achieving digital adoption. And, with enterprises rapidly increasing their digital transformation budgets, the stakes are high.
Clear communication, well-thought-out change management, alternative training methods, and the right level of IT support are all still important to digital adoption success.
But above all, business leaders must focus on people. This means offering frustration-free software experiences that put employees firmly in control, empowering them to navigate applications successfully and achieve better business outcomes.
This is why Digital Adoption Platforms (DAPs) are such an exciting opportunity. You can use a DAP to make software simple across the hundreds of different applications your enterprise might be using, maximizing their value to employees and to the business overall.
And to top it off, a DAP like Userlane makes tracking and measuring digital adoption easy with HEART analytics, introducing a whole new level of insight and continuous improvement into the mix.
So, whether your goal is boosting employee happiness, improving productivity, cutting costs, or all of the above, the recipe for digital adoption success remains the same: put people first, add a dash of measurement, and embrace the exciting possibilities of modern software!
Engagement and productivity: Measure employee sentiment across all applications and gather real user feedback to identify and resolve points of frustration.
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Adoption measurement: Set and measure adoption targets based on the percentage of users who have adopted the application to maximize the impact of your software spend.
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Retention of users: Boost productivity and help your people form meaningful habits by tracking the percentage of users who continue to use the application over time.
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Task success: Track the task completion rate for all vital application processes, uncover and mitigate critical process risks.
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About Userlane
Userlane is a global technology company that partners with over 200 leading enterprises. Userlane's award-winning Digital Adoption Platform empowers organizations to understand and improve the value of their technology initiatives. By leveraging AI, Userlane identifies untapped potential and eliminates digital adoption barriers across an organization's application landscape, leading to increased productivity, reduced friction, and improved employee satisfaction.
To learn more about Userlane and discover how a Digital Adoption Platform can drive your organization’s approach to digital transformation, visit userlane.com.
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EN
Happiness
Measure employee sentiment across applications. Identify and resolve points of frustration.
H
Retention
Boost productivity and help your people form meaningful habits.
R
Task Success
Track task completion. Uncover and mitigate critical process risks.
T
Engagement
Analyze usage in real time. Discover how to unlock the full potential of your applications.
E
Adoption
Set and measure adoption targets. Maximize the impact of your software spend.
A
The average software training budget has halved to £1,107.63 per employee per year.
Cost pressure requires more efficient training
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Many businesses (73%) prioritize communicating the benefits of technology to their employees. While only 62% of employees feel their business clearly communicates plans for digital change.
Employees not only need to know that the software is worth using, but also that it’s going to be simple to use and that they will be fully supported to maximize its value.
Communication
To maximize employee adoption of new software – and minimize disruption to their work – businesses need to implement tech changes carefully. Many (71%) are already taking this step and have implemented a change management strategy to encourage a culture of understanding and acceptance.
As we explore below, training is usually a big part of this – but it isn’t always done in the most practical or cost-effective way.
Change management
A similar number of businesses (70%) have increased the capacity of their IT desks to support employees in adopting new software. This doesn’t address the root cause of poor digital adoption, however, which is that employees struggle to learn how to use software by themselves.
Taking this approach runs the risk of increasing IT costs, without any positive productivity outcomes.
IT support
Methods like workshops and peer-to-peer learning are expensive and difficult to scale up across a large enterprise. Businesses are therefore reevaluating their approach to software training, moving away from a costly, logistically challenging, and ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach which prioritizes classroom-based learning, towards diversifying their training options to accommodate individual preferences.
Software training
DAPs provide a more scalable approach compared to traditional software training sessions. Instead of conducting individual or group training sessions, which can be time-consuming and costly, DAPs offer on-demand, self-paced learning experiences.
Scalability
DAPs offer a cost-effective solution for technology adoption, helping organizations not only save on training expenses, but also reduce the need for IT support.
Cost efficiency
DAPs foster self-sufficiency amongst employees and promote continuous, embedded learning through a “learn while doing” model. By reducing reliance on IT support, trainers, or colleagues, employees are encouraged to tackle software challenges independently.
Continuous, embedded learning
Nevertheless, it is encouraging to see change. A number of the training methods businesses will offer in the future lend themselves to embedded, interactive experiences which enable employees to access self-guided learning on-demand.
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"More than ever, organizations are urged to upskill their people to realize the full potential of their existing workforce. But how can we retain employees to stay up to speed and ensure they are also willing to learn? Especially as they experience frustration while using software and lose multiple hours of work due to software issues. In order to rethink people enablement, technology can be a crucial enabler for skill-based learning. Userlane has understood this potential of technology supported or in-application learning and definitely reveals the major upsides of learning directly in the flow of work."
Josephine zu Stolberg
Learning & Enablement Consultant, EY People Advisory Services
"User-adoption is ultimately about lowering barriers between your new tech and your people. Even the smartest solution fails to serve its purpose, if your people are not enabled to engage with it. To achieve sustainable digital adoption, we have to combine an engaging Change Management strategy with enablement technology that delivers the right content to users at the exact time and place of need. In doing so, employees will understand the underlying reason behind your implementation and experience their own benefit in it first-hand."
Wolfgang Hufnagel,
Digital Enablement Lead, PwC Germany
“Because user adoption falls significantly short of expectations, the launch of new enterprise software frequently fails to produce the anticipated return on investment. A new application is often perceived by users as an additional burden with no added benefits. The problem is that the users and their needs and problems are only taken into consideration at the end of a project. The success of such initiatives heavily depends on considering the users' needs right from the beginning.”
Fabian Merkel
Head of Team Transformation, Leadvise Reply
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Here’s who we surveyed
Employee survey:
Age 25-34
Age 35-44
Age 45-54
Age 55+
Age 16-24
13%
34%
34%
14%
5%
262 employees at large UK businesses (1,000+ staff):
Healthcare/
pharmaceutical
Manufacturing
Automotive
Finance
Business services
18%
21%
21%
20%
19%
From these industries:
Business leader survey:
Age 25-34
Age 35-44
Age 45-54
Age 55+
Age 18-24
7%
32%
36%
20%
5%
265 business leaders (senior management and above)
at large UK businesses (1,000+ staff):
Healthcare/
pharmaceutical
Manufacturing
Automotive
Finance
Business services
19%
20%
20%
22%
19%
Research Methodology
Here’s who we surveyed
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From these industries:
Hover for more detail
Get full report!
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Hartmut Hahn
CEO, Userlane
One thing is clear: most businesses recognize the importance of digital adoption, but only some have mastered it.
That’s where Userlane comes in. We help organizations fully understand how well they utilize the applications they are paying for and provide tools to improve software adoption and usage. In short: We help reduce friction and complexity and make software simple.
The results? Higher productivity, happier users, and less cost for underutilized software.
Interested in how well enterprises are currently doing with Digital Adoption?
Let’s jump into this year’s insights!
Against a backdrop of economic and business uncertainty, enterprises are steadfast in their pursuit of digital transformation. In fact, almost two-thirds (62%) increased their digital transformation budget over the last twelve months, and a similar number (60%) say they will continue this through the year ahead.
38% of businesses will increase their budgets by up to 20% in 2024, with an average planned increase of 8%.
This is likely due to digital transformation being viewed by many as “future-proofing” that enables businesses to withstand tomorrow’s economic and business challenges. While it may entail significant up-front investment, the benefits in the long run are considerable.
On the other hand, businesses will pay a heavy price if they fail to get it right. Not only will they lose money, but they will be left exposed to the issues brought about by an uncertain economic environment.
The average UK enterprise spent £1,786,035.82 on new software investments last year.